Whispers of the Soul
by Venomous Angel 75
Summary: Alice attempts to fight the demons of the past while Jasper fights her denial of their connection. Mature themes to follow. Please Review!
1. First Encounter

**Disclaimer: I claim no right to the **_**Twilight**_** universe. Please Review!**

Alice stared at her computer screen, her dark eyes glazed and her mouth twisted into a grimace. Around her, the other patrons and the employees of the diner went about their usual business, the older men drinking too much coffee because they wanted an excuse to talk to the waitresses while the waitresses smiled and simpered in the hopes of receiving a large tip. Staticky holiday music issued from old speakers indifferent to their inability to process treble sound without a screech that made everyone in the establishment wince. Everyone, but Alice.

She noticed nothing of the atmosphere around her, the entirety of her attention focused upon the news article filling her screen. Her gaze lingered on the picture of the crumpled and blackened skeleton of a car with an ambulance in the background. The yellow lettering of the dark van in the left corner was barely visible. It read 'CORONER.'

"More coffee, ma'am?"

Alice jumped at the waitress's interruption. "Um, no. Thank you," she said with barely a glance at the young woman. She let her eyes drift to the two pictures below that of the scene, one a formal portrait of a couple smiling stiffly and one of two young girls with their arms around each other. The lack of emotion she felt mildly surprised her, but she couldn't quite feel bad about it. She didn't know why she expected a different reaction this time.

She looked at the picture of the couple again, taking in their perfectly pressed appearance with the modestly expensive clothes, the woman's salon highlighted hair, the man's artificially whitened teeth. She imagined that most people saw a lovely couple, orderly and friendly. Perhaps only she could see the masks they wore, decorated with false affection and feigned interest. Perhaps only she could see the calculated choices evident in every aspect of the photo that spoke of endless ambition and the need for bigger and better things. It was only fair that she would feel the same indifference for them in death that they had felt for her in life.

Alice turned her attention to the other photo, unable to stand one more second looking at her parents. The contrast between the two girls was almost startling.

The older one, as evidenced by being taller, seemed like a wraith from some fantastical story. With thick dark hair and pale skin, she appeared as though she could dissolve at any second. The soft, wistful smile and the far away look in her eyes perfectly expressed the dreamer that she already was. The second, younger girl was much more solidly in the picture. Her bright hair sparkled in the sunshine. Laughter was evident in her eyes and her pink cheeks were stretched wide with an exuberant smile. _Jonathan and Louisa Brandon (left), survived by daughters Mary Alice Brandon and Cynthia Brandon_, read the caption below the pictures.

Alice allowed the corners of her mouth to drift upward in a sad smile. She absently wondered how her little sister was getting along.

The jingle of the bells on the door pulled her from her thoughts and she quickly closed the browser window. That was enough brooding on the past. She pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled through the list of recent calls for her best friend's number. Her gaze drifted around the diner as she waited for Bella to pick up. Amusement made her feel more like herself as she watched the other patrons going about their business. One old woman was trying to talk herself out of her second piece of cherry pie, but it was easy to see that she was going to lose. A group of kids about fifteen sat a couple of tables away devouring a ridiculous amount of food. Their eyes were red and glazed. She giggled, remembering the few times she and her friends had indulged in less than legal activities. Good times.

"Hello?" Bella finally answered, her voice soft and breathless.

"Hey," Alice said suspiciously. "What's up? Just get back from a jog?" She could practically hear the blush flooding Bella's face.

"Sure," she said.

Alice laughed. "You are a terrible liar, Bells. Say hi to Edward for me." She heard the soft murmur of Bella relaying the message. "So, we're doing something tonight, right? I need some distracting today."

"Uh-huh. The opening's tonight, remember?" Bella said. "Edward wants to know when you're coming home. He wants you to dress me. The club opens at 10 and the party officially starts at eleven." She sounded grumpy, then she said, presumably to Edward, "Yes, I'm irritated with you. I can dress myself perfectly well."

Edward's reply was too faint for Alice to hear, but she could guess at what he said. An unholy glee began to build as she contemplated the possibilities. Since discovering her past, she had been much less inclined to put all the effort forth for herself and so she lived vicariously through Bella.

"Anyway," Alice interjected, but before she could continue an image of a young man flickered in front of her eyes. She couldn't see much more than the intensity behind his light emerald eyes as they stared straight into hers, but it took her breath away. "Oh!"

Bella's attention was back immediately. "What?"

Alice blinked and the image faded. "Nothing, I just–nothing. I'll see you in thirty." She snapped her phone shut and dropped it on the table. Those two were ridiculous, still acting like the lovesick teenagers they had been, even after seven years together. She shook her head. If only she were so lucky. If only she could find the guy she had just seen and convince him to give her a chance, she might consider letting someone of the opposite sex into her life long enough to form a romantic attachment.

She was shutting down her computer when the jingle bells rang again. She glanced up out of habit and froze, her eyes glued to the newest addition to the diner crowd. This one was, in a word, delicious.

Time seemed to slow as he moved toward the seating counter, unwinding his scarf with a smooth flick of his wrist. He ran one hand through his shaggy, honey-colored hair to smooth it out of his face and his mouth quirked up in a small smile as he caught the hostess's eye to give her his name. The woman blushed and scribbled it on her notepad. He looked around the diner with mild interest, eyes wandering over the garish fifties decorations and the tables full of all different kinds of people. Slowly his eyes drifted in Alice's direction and she managed to close her mouth just as he looked at her.

As soon as their eyes met, Alice felt as though the bottom dropped out of her stomach and only by some miracle managed to keep her face straight as she realized that he was the man she had just seen. There was no shame in his pale eyes as he stared directly into hers. She fought the heat rising up her neck as she found herself paralyzed by his gaze. His mouth twisted up in a small smile and he dipped his head in acknowledgement. She allowed her mouth to stretch into a smile in return.

Her laptop beeped as it finished the shutdown, startling her out of paralysis, and she slid it into her bag. She refused to look up again, but imagined that his eyes were still on her, studying her movements, wondering her thoughts, maybe even wishing he knew her name. She almost laughed aloud at herself because she knew how silly it was to think about the 'what ifs.' She dropped a few bills on the table to cover the tab and swung her bag over her shoulder.

Her heart beat faster as she got closer to him, but she kept her head down to hide the heat building in her cheeks. Five steps…three steps…one step…and she was past him, safe to let the blush rage.

"Excuse me?"

A soft touch on her arm stopped her cold. She fought the giddiness in her chest and carefully schooled her expression as she turned around. He was closer than she had expected, her eyes were level with his chest and she had to tilt her head back to look him in the eye. The proximity was like a drug.

"Yes?" she said, proud that her voice didn't shake. She dragged air into her lungs, unfortunately inhaling his scent along with it. She wondered how a man could smell like heat.

"I think you forgot your phone on the table," he said. He inclined his head back the way she had come.

She looked over to the table to see a waitress scoop her phone up from the laminate tabletop and hurry over with it. Disappointment threatened to crush her, but she thought she hid it well. She rubbed her hand across her eyes to dash away the moisture. Today was not her day. She thanked the waitress and slipped the phone into her bag. "Thanks, um…"

"Jasper," he said, his Southern accent soft and soothing.

Alice smiled tightly. Why did God like to torture her so? "Jasper." His name felt right on her tongue. "Thank you, Jasper." She turned and fled.

"Any time," he murmured after her.


	2. Difficulty Concentrating

**Disclaimer: I claim no right to the **_**Twilight**_** universe. Please Review!**

He couldn't get her scent out of his head. The intoxicating mix of citrus and something that could only be _her_, filled his lungs and teased his senses long after she had escaped through the door. He'd quickly asked the waitress to seat him at the same table she had occupied and the seat was still a little warm.

Jasper leaned back as the buser wiped down the table, his thoughts otherwise occupied.

She was such a tiny thing, her head barely coming to his chest. If his attention hadn't been riveted to her the instant their eyes locked, he would have missed her completely when she walked by.

He ordered the first thing he saw on the menu when the waitress came by, suppressing an eye roll as she leaned forward and pressed her arms to her sides in an attempt to showcase her assets. Once he would have been interested and quite likely he would have taken the woman up on her offer, but she was dull and boring in comparison to the petite wonder he had just seen.

He supposed he must have looked crazy to the people around him as he stared into space, but all he could see was the woman's shy smile and her wide dark eyes. Those eyes had contained so much in the brief seconds they had been locked on his: surprise, interest (he hoped), lingering amusement, sadness. He wanted to know the reasons for each, most especially why she was sad so that he could soothe the hurt and bring another smile to her delicate features.

Her surprised little jump as her laptop shut down made him smile and he took the opportunity of her distraction to study her further without her notice. It wouldn't have done to have her catch him staring a second time. He tried to be sly. He wasn't quite sure how that worked out, so mesmerized by her smooth graceful motions was he. It seemed that no movement was without a purpose, each flick of her fingers that moved a lock of hair behind her ears, every tilt of her head to check her bag was exactly as she wanted it to be.

He snapped his eyes to the laminated menu on display in front of the seating counter as she slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the door. It seemed his heart was beating so loud that it was a wonder that the entire establishment hadn't stopped to stare at him. Five steps…three steps…one step. Her scent swirled around him as she passed, sending him into a little convulsion of pleasure.

By chance he glanced back at her table and noticed the small blue rectangle of her phone still sitting on the cheap plastic tabletop. His insides cheered. Quickly, he reached out and just managed to graze her elbow with his fingers.

"Excuse me?" He stepped closer while she turned.

Her head tilted back to look at him directly. The color of her eyes intrigued him. Across the room he had thought them a very deep brown, but up close he could see that her irises were barely distinguishable from her pupils. The flush tinting her pale skin caused a pump of heat in his chest.

"Yes?" she said quietly, taking a deep breath after.

He nodded back toward the table, his eyes never leaving her face. "I think you forgot your phone on the table," he managed.

Her dark eyes widened and she looked over in a mild panic. One of the waitresses had noticed, too, and was on her way over with the phone in her hand.

He thought he noticed a quick, but profound flicker of disappointment cross her face, but he was reluctant to read anything into it. It was already hard enough to try acting like a normal stranger when he found everything about her so fascinating.

The tiny woman scrubbed her hand across her face and snatched the phone from the waitress's hand with a hurried 'thank you.' She looked up at him again. "Thanks, um…"

"Jasper," he supplied, perhaps too quickly.

"Jasper," she said with a strained smile. The layers of emotion behind her eyes frustrated him to no end. He wanted to know the what and why and how and when, all of it. "Thank you, Jasper." And she was gone before he could say another word.

He had stared at her retreating back and sighed, "Any time." He had never been one to believe in love at first sight, but something about this woman reached deep inside him and stirred up all kinds of emotions he hadn't known himself capable of feeling.

"Any dessert for you tonight?"

He pulled himself from his thoughts and shook his head. "No, thank you. I'll take the check."

The waitress pushed her lips forward in a little pout he supposed was meant to be inviting, but it only served to annoy him. She set the slip down on the table and winked as she sauntered off swinging her hips like she had something to brag about. No thank you.

He glanced at the tab and frowned when he noticed the time on the ticket. The frown deepened as he checked his watch and realized that he had wasted nearly two hours pining over some woman, granted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, that he would likely never meet again. He laid some money on the table next to his plate and stood. Though the night was still young, he had places to be. With one last wistful glance at the table, Jasper flipped open his phone and headed out.

Alice arrived home more than twenty minutes later and she was still out of sorts. She pulled into the garage and shut off her car, sitting there for a few seconds. "Jasper," she whispered to herself. She closed her eyes and bumped her head forward on the steering wheel. She just couldn't get his face out of her mind.

The house was warm and the smell of lasagna brought a smile to her face. Thank god, Bella had moved in with them soon after Edward and herself had taken residence up in the penthouse. Alice supposed that Edward could cook just fine, but why expend the effort when Bella was more than willing to contribute to keeping them well-fed.

Alice skipped up the stairs to the second level, since the first level contained only the garage, the wine cellar and the entrance to the apartment. "Honey, I'm home!" she called as she entered the spacious living room/dance floor/kitchen. Once again, she thanked whoever had decided to place her under the care of Dr. Carlisle Cullen after her parents' deaths. That man had saved her life in more than one way.

Bella was seated on one of the counters with her arms looped around Edward's neck as he stood content between her legs. One hand was curled around the back of her neck, holding her close as he kissed her and the other was splayed across her lower back and inching lower by the second.

"Oh, God! You're not having sex are you? I eat there!" Alice screeched in mock terror.

Bella tried to push Edward away, a famous blush heating her cheeks, but he refused to move. He kissed her again, seemingly oblivious to her escape efforts, and said, "Absolutely. Right here on the kitchen counter in plain sight in the middle of the day." She hid her face in his neck and pinched him. Hard. "Ow, hey!"

"That's what you get," she mumbled.

Alice set her bag on the other side of the counter and grabbed a soda from the fridge. "Save the kinky stuff for when I'm not here," she ordered. "And I _know_ that you've had sex right there on the kitchen counter in plain sight, so don't give me the sarcasm. Just because it's two am, doesn't mean that people can't see _or_ _hear_ you." She shuddered after she took a long gulp from the can.

Bella pushed Edward back and tried to slide her feet back to the floor, but he beat her to it and lifted her down. "I can do it," she said, pushing him away again.

"Right," Edward snorted. "Like the time you told me you could walk down the stairs and ended up with a broken arm? Or like the time you told me you could ice skate and we sat in the emergency room for six hours? I'll take the wrath over the pain any day." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead, but Alice could see the darkening of his eyes as he remembered. "I don't know if you get it, but I _can't_ lose you, Bella. I'm kind of in love with you."

Alice looked away, feeling like an intruder. She had been more than thrilled when Edward had finally found the courage to ask Bella out after pining from afar for nearly two years. She was truly happy that they had such a deep and solid love for each other, but a small part of her was insanely jealous. She wanted someone to look at her the way that Edward looked at Bella, someone to come home to after a long difficult day at work, someone who accepted her with all her flaws and loved her so much that nothing else mattered. She was so tired of being alone.

"It'll happen, you know."

Alice jumped at how close Edward had gotten without her notice. "Yes, thank you."

He ignored her tone as he leaned toward her across the counter as Bella checked on the food. He glanced behind at her as she opened the oven, tenderness in his gaze. "And when it does, it will be so worth everything you went through first."

Alice scowled. "I'm really not in the mood for optimism, Edward. No matter what any of you say or how often you say it, I'm still going to be an afterthought to everyone else."

He studied her face with surprise. The unusual venom in her tone had caught him off guard. "What-?" he started, but she leveled a pointed look at him. He glanced at the calendar quickly and noticed that the entire day was blacked out with marker. Shame coiled into a tight knot in his gut as he realized he had forgotten what this day meant to her. "Oh."

"Yeah." She set her soda can on the counter and rested her forehead on her palms. "I'm sorry," she said, weariness mixed with the sincerity. "It's just so hard to be positive today. Every time I see them…"

He slipped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to his side. "They were horrible people, Alice. They don't deserve to be remembered."

"That doesn't make it any easier," she mumbled.

He squeezed her arm gently, exchanging a glance with Bella. It upset them both to see her void of her usual exuberance and cheer. "I know."

"Really? Do you?" she asked, the venom staining her words.

Edward hugged her tighter, turning her so that she was facing him. "No, my parents were everything they were supposed to be and more, but that doesn't mean that I can't sympathize." He pulled away a little and used a hand under her chin to force her head up so that she had to look at his face. She couldn't doubt him when the evidence was right there in front of her. "I love you, Alice. Whether we're related by blood or not, you are my family."

She pressed her forehead to his chest, fighting off the sniffles. "Thank you," she whispered. "I love you, too."

"I know," he said, his falsely arrogant tone making her laugh. "Everybody loves me."

She rolled her eyes and stepped back, the despair draining from her system. He was so good at bringing her back to herself. "I'm sure. So, what's the word on the old married couple? Are they back yet?"

Bella shook her head. "They're staying another week with Carlisle and Esme. Lawrence has a pretty bad fever, so Rose wanted to make sure he was okay before they traveled. Carlisle said he should be fine, but the girls might be coming back to stay with us for a couple of days. Just to be safe," she added.

Alice made a quick mental list of what she'd need to do if the McCarty twins did come to stay. She'd have to dig out the padlock for her closet and stock up on the latest _Veggie Tales_ and _Barbie_ movies. "Sounds good. It'll be nice to have some normal company around here." She drank some more soda.

The timer started buzzing and Bella took the lasagna out of the oven.

"Smells great, darling," Edward said, kissing her cheek.

"Shall I get some wine?" Bella asked with a smile, knowing full well what the answer would be. Carlisle had imbued his children with his love of fine alcohol, though they weren't nearly so picky about what they'd drink.

"Yes, please," Alice chirped, making the other two laugh. If she was drinking wine, she was going to eat, and if she was going to eat, she was feeling better. It was a dead giveaway that she was feeling bad when there was food still in the refrigerator.

Edward removed the hot pan from Bella's hands and set it on the table while Alice pulled the glasses out of the cupboard.

"Oh, that reminds me," Bella called back as she headed down to the first level to get a couple of bottles of wine. "Esme wanted you to call her."

Alice nodded. "Sure."

Edward grinned. "We're still here."

"You know it's not the same," she said, rolling her eyes.

He grabbed the glass from her fingers and set it down. "We're not going anywhere until you have someone to take care of you and even then, you're stuck with us until things get crowded." He sighed and muttered, "If they get crowded."

She waited until Bella was safely down the stairs and faced Edward fully with an assessing look. "Are you pushing her again?"

Edward's face closed off and he stalked across the room to get placemats. Alice followed him, refusing to let him off the hook.

"Leave her alone for a week, Edward," she said, frustrated that her usually insightful brother could be so obtuse when it came to his girlfriend. "She is obviously not comfortable with putting an official label on your relationship, _despite_," she cut him off before he could interrupt, "her complete and total emotional commitment to you. Look at the attitude her parents have toward marriage and how well it worked for them! We are barely halfway through our twenties. There is plenty of time to settle down. You've got another fifteen to twenty years before she hits menopause."

"But Emmett and Rosalie- ," he began.

"Are different people," she finished for him. "Rosalie only ever wanted a family, and adoring hordes of men, but being in love and being a mom were her life goals. Bella's just getting used to the idea that you're going to be around forever and she's never thought about children. You have to give Bella time."

"Time for what?" Bella asked as she crested the stairs, two bottles in either hand.

"Time to pick a decent vintage that will complement our dinner perfectly, " Alice said smoothly. "He almost came down to get you."

Edward's face was tight, but he relaxed before Bella had a chance to notice. "What with your history and all, I was worried that you had tipped the wine rack."

"Well, I imagine you would have heard a crash had that been the case." She shoved the bottles at Edward to open. "I am going to eat now. I hope you can trust me to operate the fork and knife alone?"

Alice smiled at Bella's minute fury, knowing that it would disappear the instant he touched her. Ah, to be in love.

Once dinner was eaten, the dishes were cleared and leftovers put away, Alice finally had the opportunity to drag Bella to the third floor to begin the transformation. She was even more enthusiastic than usual with two large glasses of wine in her system, though she seemed to have an amazing tolerance for someone so petite.

Bella squirmed and moaned piteously while Alice primped and curled and painted and glossed for an hour and a half before she was satisfied with Bella's appearance and that it wouldn't melt off in the heat of a hot new club.

"It's not like I'm even going to be dancing," Bella had complained, but Alice silenced her with a wave of the hand.

"It doesn't even matter. Just direct the heartbroken ones in my direction and I'll do my best to soothe their hurts." She winked and Bella flushed.

Bella sat near the door of Alice's enormous closet, one of the benefits of having a four story penthouse and a floor all to yourself, and watched her friend dart up and down the racks of clothes looking for an outfit for Bella to wear. She had learned by now just to let her friend work. Resistance was futile, especially when Edward was inclined to let Alice have her way when it came to dolling up his girlfriend.

"So," she said. "What happened while we were on the phone earlier? It sounded interesting."

Alice shrugged as she held up a dress against Bella's front and shook her head. "Nothing really. I just saw this guy." She dashed away again in search of something else.

Bella was intrigued. Alice hardly ever mentioned men and that little gasp on the phone meant much more than just some guy. "And," she pressed.

The woman shrugged again. "And nothing. It's not like he would have been interested anyway."

"Oh, _please_, Alice! He would have to be dead not to be interested." Bella narrowed her eyes, deciding to take another approach. "What did he look like?"

Alice stared off a little, a wistful smile curving her mouth. "Beautiful," she murmured, then shook her head to bring herself back to the present. "He was very attractive. His eyes were this pale green, lighter than Edward's. Very intense. He was tall, too, but perfectly proportioned."

"Is that so?" Bella said, a little thrill of hope bubbling in her chest. "What's his name?"

"Jasper."

Bella wanted to shake her. Getting this information was like pulling teeth. "Jasper…"

"I don't know. He stopped me so that I didn't forget my phone. I said, 'thank you,' he said, 'Jasper', I said, 'thank you, Jasper' and I left." Alice held up another dress, a short pewter-colored silk halter with rhinestones around the neck. "I am wearing this. But, you…"

"You didn't say anything like, 'Hi, my name is Alice. Want to have coffee sometime?' Where is Alice and what have you done with her?" Bella moaned.

Alice shot her a glare. "It's not like I'm really on my game today, okay? In any case, this guy would so not be into someone like me." She dove into a rack and emerged after a few seconds of intense struggle with a simple, elegant and decent-length sapphire cocktail dress. "You are wearing this," she said with not a little bit of satisfaction.

"How do you even know if you didn't give the guy a chance?"

"I just do, Bella. People in perfectly pressed Armani slacks and an Yves Saint Laurent shirt with even their $1 bills arranged so that they all face in the same direction and none of them are upside down do not like people like me," Alice huffed. She hung the dress on a hook and opened the doors to her accessory closet.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Just because you shove your cash straight into your purse in a crumpled mess and you have paint splatters on _your_ Armani slacks?"

Alice pulled her to her feet and indicated that she was to strip and put the dress on. "No, well…yes, but those people are all about image. There's no real feeling beneath that shiny surface."

"But – " Bella began.

Alice cut her off. "What about you and Edward? It took us _forever_ to convince you that he was really and truly in love with you." She lifted a delicate silver necklace with large links shaped like leaves and handed it to Bella to put on. "Why is it so hard to believe that I have the same doubts? And it's not like he even knows my name, so there's no chance of follow-up anyway."

Bella grimaced and slid the dress over her shoulders after she had secured the necklace around her neck. "What if he did want to know? What if he's pining for you right now and cursing that he didn't have the balls to ask you out?"

"I can't live in a world of what ifs, Bella," Alice sighed wearily, praying for this discussion to end.

Bella looked thoughtful. "Maybe we could hire a private eye to track him down and then you could 'accidentally' run into him again."

Alice would have banged her head on the wall if not for having done her makeup already. "No, Bella. If I'm meant to find him again, I will. _Without_ a private eye."


	3. Terrible Luck

**Disclaimer: I claim no right to the **_**Twilight**_** universe. Please Review!**

_**Warning: This chapter contains a semi-explicit scene of sexual assault. Continue to the next chapter after the story returns to focus on Alice if you do not wish to read this section. Consider yourself informed.**_

Excitement tingled through Alice as she felt the heavy bass vibrate through the floorboards. No matter what kind of terrible mood she was in, a night out dancing always lifted her spirits. Laughter bubbled through her when she glanced sideways at her best friend. The look of pure terror on Bella's face amused her more than it should. "It'll be okay, Bell. Edward will take care of you," Alice said cheerily, wrapping her arm around Bella's shoulders and giving her a quick squeeze. They both stood in Edward's office which overlooked the lower floors of the club.

Bella stretched her mouth into an odd looking smile and nodded, her fingertips white where they pressed against the glass in her hand.

Alice shook her head and turned her gaze back to the fabulous party below. She had to hand it to her brother, the place was impeccable. Swaths of deep plum fabric radiated out from the disco ball in the center of the ceiling in big loops to the edges of the room and drifted down from there to the floor as the color faded to black. It reminded her of _The Arabian Nights_, but with a disco ball and dance music.

The club itself was shaped like a hexagon with the entrance and the bar at opposite sides of the room. There were three floors, the first being the main dance floor with the largest bar and lots of high-top tables lining the four intermediate walls. The second floor appeared much smaller because most of it was hidden behind partitions, leaving only small balconies that acted as the VIP sections and the music stage. Behind the partitions were the holding areas where the belligerent drunks were taken to sober up in lockdown until closing time. The offices made up the third floor and Edward's was special because his had a small apartment, really only a bedroom and a bathroom, attached for use by family and close friends in the event of too much fun. All of his clubs had one. He had made it a requirement since Alice and Emmett had spent more than one night wandering the streets absolutely hammered after a party. Alice shook her head. Ah, college. She flashed another look at Bella.

"You're going to break that," she said, deftly removing the glass from Bella's grip and setting it on the desk.

Bella suddenly turned and gripped Alice's arms with surprising force, her lovely chocolate eyes wide in distress. "Pretend to be sick! I want to go home!"

"Bella," Alice said gently, dislodging Bella's death grip and taking hold of her shoulder. "There is no way in hell that I am missing this party, even for you. That said, you will be fine. Once we get on the floor, Edward will be permanently attached to your side and I know he's not going to let anything happen. Relax." She went up on tiptoe and kissed Bella's forehead. "Now let's go."

They turned to head down to the party, but Bella grabbed her glass and sucked the contents down her throat in a desperate play for courage. She coughed and wiped her mouth. "Okay," she sighed. "I'm ready."

Alice's laughter was muffled by the pounding beat of the music that swelled through the building and through the office as they opened the door. Already, the strange cold feelings of the day were melting into nothing as Alice drew closer and closer to scene that had always brought her comfort.

Edward met them at the second floor landing, an appreciative glow in his eyes as he looked them over. His grin widened as the familiar flush spread across Bella's face, lending a ravishing pink tint to her creamy skin. He pulled her close against his side, leaning down to whisper naughty things in her ear.

Alice gagged and let go of her friend, ignoring Edward's chuckle. As much as she would love to stick around and watch Edward attempt to set Bella on fire with the heat of her blush, she had better things to do. She smoothed her hands down her dress, loving the feel of the silk against her skin. With a wink at the couple, she slipped out into the crowd.

There was always a good sense of the party from behind the scenes, but nothing compared to the first taste. Vibrations shivered through Alice, making her skin tingle. She hopped down the stairs to the ground floor, sparing a quick smile for Terry, the VIP bouncer, on her way by.

The bar was packed with all kinds of people trying to muscle their way to the front of the line to get the next drink. Lucy, Edward's close friend and premier bartender, caught Alice's eye through the crowd and nodded toward the end of the bar that was roped off.

Alice wiggled her way through the throng, wary of stray elbows and aggressive girlfriends as she ducked around people. She blessed Lucy's tough little heart as she ducked under the ropes and snagged the drink sitting just beyond the reach of the greedy club-goers. That woman was a master of mixology, Alice thought as she took a sip of the tart beverage. Perfect, as always.

She moved back into the crowd, determined to mingle, hoping that at least one of the cute guys wandering around could dance. The night would not be complete if she didn't stumble to the limo dripping with sweat and ready to pass out. It would be even better if she found someone with whom she could leave and still end the night dripping with sweat and ready to pass out. Bonus points if he had blonde hair and intense green eyes.

Hours passed and alcohol flowed, loosening her body and her inhibitions. She flitted around the club, chatting it up with anyone brave enough to introduce themselves. A few asked her to dance and she threw herself into it, drowning out everything but the music and the heat and the friction of another person pressed close. Sometimes she would join Edward and Bella on the second level where they watched the festivities, Edward with the edge of a business man and Bella with frown of discomfort.

Once she even managed to drag her friend down to the floor for three songs and got her to smile while they were there. Edward soon cut in, taking advantage of the opportunity, and Alice let them be. She knew exactly where they were headed next and she was on a mission to find her own kind of distraction.

As she made her way back to the bar for another of Lucy's brilliant concoctions, a man she had noticed several times caught her hand as she moved past the table at which he sat. His dark hair was cut close to his scalp and his eyes held the promise of something more as he drew her closer. "Hi," he said close to her ear so that she could hear him.

"Hi, yourself," she said back with a smile. He wasn't exactly what she had hoped for, but he was definitely not unattractive. She liked his confidence.

"I'm Jason," he told her, his mouth stretching in a smile meant to entice. "Would you care for a drink?"

She giggled because the smile was a little cheesy, but nodded anyway.

He pulled her along without a backward glance at his friends.

Lucy was not behind the bar, presumably on her break, so Alice decided to pretend to be a normal girl and wait in line for her turn. There were definitely advantages to knowing the staff. Lucy was the only one of the bartenders that she saw on a regular basis, so it was understandable that the others didn't know her on sight.

"Shot or regular drink?" Jason asked, leaning close.

She inhaled the scent of his subtle and expensive cologne and smiled. "How about a shot?"

His answering grin sent little butterflies fluttering around her midsection. She studied him as he leaned over the bar to order the drinks cataloging his good features: well-muscled (cut, but not huge; nice and lean), reasonable height, very easy on the eyes, great smile, smooth voice, good taste in clothes and cologne, and he was buying her a drink. If he could dance, she decided that she had found her distraction.

Her attention snapped back up to his face as he turned back around to pull her to the edge of the bar. He pushed one glass into her hand and took the other for himself.

"Ready?" he said.

"As I'll ever be," she replied. They touched glasses and poured the contents down their throats. Alice made a face. Shots had never been her thing, but the burn wasn't unpleasant as it heated her throat and stomach.

Jason watched her shifting expressions with a look of amusement. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Alice said. "I'm not much for shots. It just takes getting used to." She sidled up close, winding her arms around his waist. "Dance with me?" she asked, smiling sweetly, putting in some effort to charm him. The drinks definitely helped her feel more like her old self.

He placed one hand on her hips and the other under her chin, tilting her head back for easy access as he kissed her once. "I'd love to," he told her.

She led him out on the dance floor, happy that her state of intoxication had never impaired her ability to walk in heels. Bella had always hated that Alice never seemed to have any trouble walking no matter how drunk she got. Alice laughed as one of her favorite songs blasted through the speakers. This night was going to end well.

It was nearly two a.m. by the time Jasper was able to make it to the opening of his latest investment. He'd had a meeting with some overseas clients and the timing was a bitch. But here he was, ready to see if his money had been put to good use.

The length of the line, which reached down the block even at one thirty in the morning, surprised and pleased him. His new partner obviously knew what he was doing. He glanced up at the neon sign above the door, the name making him smile. _Luster_. It was okay.

The bouncer immediately opened the door as he approached and Jasper was assailed by deafening music, flickering lights and incredible heat. He stood still for a few moments, absorbing the scene before him, his admiration for Edward Cullen growing exponentially as he noted the precise planning evident in every detail of the place.

From the corner of his eye he saw the man standing at the bottom of the stairs wave him over.

"Mr. Cullen's upstairs in the office," the man said when Jasper went over. "Head up this way and take a left at the end of this section of the balcony."

Jasper nodded and made his way up the stairs, still watching the pulsing crowd with admiration. He wove through the tables and ducked through the carefully concealed opening just where the man had said. A woman stood there with a shy smile on her face and a welcoming look in her eyes.

"Jasper Whitlock, right?" she said, her soft voice difficult to hear over the noise. "I'm Bella. Edward was just on the phone, so he asked me to come get you." She shook his hand and turned to lead the way.

She took him around the back of the partitions to another set of stairs and started up them. Halfway up, she caught her foot on the lip of a stair and pitched forward.

He lunged forward and pulled her back, keeping his hold on her until she was completely steady. Her skin instantly flushed and she mumbled a quick thanks as she hurried up the rest of the steps. Seeing Bella blush brought to mind the woman from earlier and a small knot of longing tightened in his chest. He wished he had asked for her name. Hell, he wished he had asked for a lot more than just her name. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his head, Jasper followed Bella into the office.

Edward stood by a window, his face pulled into a mask of concern as he stared down at the club below. He looked up as Bella entered and the expression smoothed away, though Jasper noticed that the concern was still there beneath the surface. He pressed a quick kiss to Bella's forehead as she moved to his side and held out a hand for Jasper to shake.

Though they had only met a few times, Jasper truly enjoyed being around Edward. It was very evident that there was little that the man didn't notice and he was always mindful of the needs of the people around him. That kind of vibe was hard to fake.

"Jasper, glad you could make it," Edward greeted him with a smile. "I see you've met Bella, my girlfriend." His smile shifted into something else entirely when he looked at her and Jasper wondered that such a love that radiated between them existed. "So, what do you think?"

Jasper joined the couple near the windows and nodded. "I think I made a good choice." He watched the churning mass of people move in time with the music, drinking and dancing to forget their normal lives. This would indeed be a lucrative business.

Edward's smile faded a little as he peered into the crowd. He picked up a walkie talkie from the table behind him and depressed the talk button. "Hey, Allan. Will you keep an eye on the blonde in the lace-up cat suit? Things look like they could get ugly with the guy she's hanging on. Separate them if we have to hold them. Can you see Alice?" The last was spoken to Bella.

She leaned forward to look out and shook her head. "Nope, she's probably in the middle with that one guy. He looked promising."

Edward's little frown of concern came back. "Alice is my sister," he explained with a glance to Jasper. "She's quite the social animal."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Relax. She'll be fine." She forced Edward to look at her. "She needs to let go tonight and blow off some steam. Don't go all protective on her. It's annoying," she said with a meaningful glance.

Jasper just gazed through the glass. He could stand to blow off a little steam himself. "I'm going to head down and see just how good a job you've done for myself," he said.

Edward clapped him on the shoulder with a grin. "You do that. If you happen to see Alice, could you have her check in with Allan or Terry? She's about five feet, um – five four with her heels, short dark hair, short dark grey-"

"Pewter," Bella interjected.

"Short _pewter_ dress," Edward amended with a little glare at his girlfriend.

Jasper smiled. "Will do. I'll see you later." He waved as he left the office. The noise assailed him as soon as he left the office. The club scene was one familiar to him, but not entirely comfortable for him. With a little head shake, he dispelled the memories of the past that threatened to ruin this experience.

He emerged from behind the partition, his eyes scanning the crowd, curious about the one called Alice.

Damn, the man could dance. Alice closed her eyes and leaned back against his body for support, her body still moving with the beat. Only a few songs in and she already needed a break. She pushed herself upright and took hold of his wrist as she started the fight to get back to the edge of the crowd. She quickly realized that she had underestimated her level of intoxication as a wave of dizziness that blackened the edges of her vision swept over her as she broke through the edges and she stumbled forward, nearly losing her balance.

Jason hauled her upright just in time and wrapped his arms around her waist to support her. "Why don't we move away from all the people?"

Alice barely heard him over the music, but she nodded anyway.

He guided her toward the edge of the room with a firm grip on her shoulder, ignoring the hitches in her steps as she caught her toes on anything and everything in her path.

Alice fuzzily wondered if this was how Bella felt all the time. She tried to halt their progress when a free table came within reach, but he wasn't paying attention and continued past it. A sudden feeling of foreboding solidified in her chest and she started to struggle against his grip. Another wave of dizziness crashed over her, rendering her almost helpless.

Jason finally stopped when they reached the perimeter and in a quick motion that sent her head reeling again, he spun her around and pressed her back against the fabric draped wall. Ignoring her whimper of protest, he forced her head up with his hand and crushed his mouth against hers.

Alice wanted to scream, but the breath just wasn't in her lungs. The vertigo stole her strength and slowed her cognition, that coupled with her small stature made her the perfect victim. She flinched away from his rough kiss, reacting to the pain as her thoughts remained just out of reach. _No_ was the only word that made sense in her head. Her mouth opened in an attempt to force the word out, but he was already there, his tongue filling her mouth, cutting off her voice.

His hands slid all over her body, pinching and squeezing wherever they went. He seemed to delight in her feeble resistance, taking pleasure in eliciting small gasps of pain when he closed his hands on her flesh in a crushing grip.

She tried to force her hands between them to push him away, but it was like pushing against concrete. He only pressed closer.

A low chuckle rumbled through him at her soft cry when he sank his teeth into her lower lip, breaking the skin and causing a gush of blood to fill her mouth and spill down her chin.

She leaned her head back against the wall as he left her mouth, all hope fading that someone would notice before it was too late. The club was dark, the music was loud and there was no doubt that there were many other couples hidden in the corners as willing participants in their activities. Her face contracted in an involuntary wince as his hands moved under the short hem of her dress to anchor themselves on her hips. She didn't bother to hide the tears dribbling down her cheeks. There were going to be some serious marks.

An odd numbness began to spread through her body, slowly drifting up from her feet, taking away the pain, removing her from the present. She closed her eyes, welcoming the oblivion, thankful that she could barely feel his vice-like grip on her breast and his other roaming hand. The numbness reached her shoulders. Somehow she heard the sharp rasp of his zipper. She felt his fingers hook in the lace of her panties, the muscles in his forearm bunching in preparation to tear them from her body. There was nothing else she could do.

Suddenly, she pitched forward as the oppressive force of the man's body vanished from around her. The sharp pain as her knees hit the concrete cleared her head a little and she opened her eyes.

The scene playing out before her only confused her muddled thoughts more. She could see Terry and Allan, two of her favorite bouncers, wrestling a man, Jason, she remembered, to the ground. Another man, tall with blonde hair, who looked familiar seemed to force himself to turn away and look at her. She squinted at him, trying to remember where she might have seen him.

He crouched down in front of her, a fearsome scowl on his face. He inched closer, his hand extended, palm up. His lips were moving, but she couldn't hear anything. She tried to move closer to him as a wonderful feeling of safety at his proximity spread through her, but her limbs wouldn't obey her commands. It was so hard to think.

Finally, she was able to extend her hand and place it in one of his.

He moved slowly and carefully, mindful of her instability, as he drew her to her feet. His beautiful eyes never left hers, watching carefully for any change.

Suddenly, she knew where she had seen him. There was no mistaking that intense gaze. "Jasper," she whispered and collapsed.


	4. The Aftermath

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Jasper sat with his head in one hand and Alice's delicate wrist closed in the other. The slow steady beat of the heart monitor was encouraging, but it still should be a little faster. He sighed, hating the cold, sterile smell and the dull white walls of the hospital room in which he sat keeping vigil over the young woman he hoped he had saved.

Alice. It was a relief to know her name, even if the circumstances by which he discovered it were not so great. Alice.

She looked so tiny in the large bed, so frail with all the wires and tubes attached to her body. Rage swept through him again as his eyes fell on her damaged lower lip and the many dark round marks marring the pale skin of her neck. He could only imagine the damage done to the rest of her body and to her mind.

A soft snuffle behind him, drew his attention to the young woman, Bella, curled in the sleeper lounge with the blanket tangled in her legs. He was more than grateful for her support of his continued presence in the face of Edward's anger. A fight would have most certainly occurred if Bella had not stepped in and insisted that Jasper remain with them for Alice's sake. Her brother had agreed, but not easily.

After everything had settled down and there was nothing to do but wait, Jasper thought about the absolute insanity of the past night. He marveled at the coincidence that the woman he had felt such a strong reaction to in the brief seconds of their interaction in a diner had turned out to be none other than his business partner's beloved little sister. And yet he raged that their second meeting had been facilitated by that asshole's attempt to drug and rape her.

He could barely stand to think about how he had felt when he had spotted her, purely by accident, pinned against the wall by that man. He had recognized her instantly, a sharp spasm of irrational agony and jealousy jolting through his system as he first thought that she was being a bit of an exhibitionist by hooking up in the corner of a crowded club. Then he noticed how her face was twisted in pain rather than pleasure and her movements were born of panic rather than passion.

Time had never seemed to move so slow as he rushed down the stairs, shouting to the bouncer, and around the people to get to her before it was too late. He felt as though he were running through molasses. The rage that already filled him grew to tint his vision red as he saw the tiny trail of blood streaking down her chin. Even as he was a few yards away, her eyes drifted closed and terror split his world wide open. He wrapped his hand around the monster's neck and ripped him away from her with a roar.

It had been the hardest thing he had ever done to let them pry his hand from the man's throat, but the faint crack from behind him turned his attention elsewhere. He whipped around to see her on her knees, her dark eyes open but glazed and unfocused. With a start, he realized that she was Edward's sister as her attire, a short dark grey dress and four inch heels, registered. Alice.

He ducked down to put himself on level with her and reached out to wipe the blood from her face. The look in her eyes gave him pause and instead he just held out his hand, hoping that she would understand enough to take it.

"Alice," he said, working hard to keep the tremble of emotion from his voice. He shifted closer, holding his hand out to her as he spoke. "I don't know if you remember me, Alice. We met earlier tonight at that little fifties diner on Main. My name is Jasper. I helped you remember your phone. Do you remember?"

Alice watched him, her eyes glazed with alcohol and trauma. He didn't know how long they stayed there until she reached out and placed her hand in his. Relief flooded through him.

Jasper moved slowly, keeping his eyes on her face for a hint of a change. He carefully helped her to her feet, the rage that had consumed him earlier increasing as he noted the large bruises on her neck. He could only imagine what the rest of her looked like.

She watched him, too, and her expression lightened briefly as if she remembered something important. "Jasper," she mumbled softly. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and all tension left her body.

Before she could fall, he scooped her up into his arms, slightly disgusted with himself that he enjoyed having her so close no matter the circumstances. He was also surprised and pleased that she had remembered his name. The soft rasp of her voice as she identified him had sent a small thrill through his body. He wished their second meeting had been under better circumstances. She was so light that he had little trouble shifting her weight to one side so that he could free one hand to wipe the blood from her lip.

A shriek interrupted his concentration and he looked up just as Bella appeared at his side, closely followed by a murderous looking Edward.

Bella's hands fluttered all over Alice's body, pulling off her shoes and straightening her clothes, while giving orders to various staff that had gathered around. "Edward," she called, drawing him away from the two who still held her assailant.

Edward was next to them in a flash, his arms extended to take Alice. "Thank you, Jasper. I'll take it from here," he said, looking at Jasper expectantly.

A bubble of panic expanded in Jasper's chest and he only tightened his grip on Alice. "No," he said flatly. At that moment, he couldn't handle not feeling her faint heartbeat through her back against his bicep or the light contractions of her torso against his chest as she breathed.

Edward's eyes narrowed and his expression darkened. He refused to move away or drop his arms. "Give her to me, Whitlock." Their eyes locked, the tension thick between them.

Jasper returned his gaze evenly despite the rising doubt in his chest. He was confident in his ability to match Edward, but he was uncertain if his presence would be a comfort or a curse to Alice. He looked down at her, taking in the chalky paleness of her skin spotted by dark bruises and remembering the incredible bravery and trust in her eyes as she placed her hand in his. He could smell her shampoo and it tightened the knot of inexplicable emotion deep inside him. Right then and there, he realized that he had lost himself forever to the delicate woman in his arms. Regardless of what he wanted or she wanted or anyone around them wanted, he was in love with her and no one could ever come close to that claim. He would destroy anyone who tried to separate them until she told him herself that she no longer wanted him around. He set his jaw. "No. She is staying with me."

Bella, quick to anticipate the fight that was surely going to occur, stepped between them and faced Edward in Jasper's defense if only to get Alice the care that she needed right away. "Edward, it's fine. We just need to get her to the hospital."

Both men turned their gazes to her in surprise.

She scowled at both of them, grabbing a proffered blanket from a bouncer and tucking it around her best friend. "We need to make sure that she's okay. What if he drugged her? What if –" her voice broke but she continued, "What if it was round two?"

Jasper was certain that he was going to crack some teeth, his jaw was so tense. A low snarl escaped his throat.

"I'm not saying it was," Bella rushed out. "But either way, we need to make sure and build as strong a case against this guy as we can. I've got our car waiting out back." She grabbed Jasper's hand and pulled him along with her.

The trip to the hospital passed in a blur, quite literally for Edward drove at over one hundred miles an hour despite chattering at ridiculous speed on his phone. Jasper kept his eyes locked on Alice's face, searching for any changes that might indicate a worsening of her condition. He felt Bella's eyes resting heavy on his face, but he ignored her. Alice was all that mattered.

Nurses plucked her from his grasp as soon as he walked in the door, leaving him stunned and bereft. Bella spared him a sympathetic glance as she trailed after Edward to keep him in check and out of the nurses' way.

He didn't know how long it was before Bella touched his shoulder and led him through the halls to a quiet room in a secluded area of the wing. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, it all felt the same. He stepped through the door and some of the tension in him unknotted as he saw her. Edward was speaking quietly to the doctor near the foot of her bed, but drew the man out of the room to make way.

Bella dropped into a chair on the left side of the bed and indicated the empty chair on the right. She watched him as he sat down and carefully lifted Alice's still pale hand from where it rested on the thin white sheets. "He drugged her with GHB," she informed him softly.

Jasper looked at her, really looked at her for the first time the entire evening. Deep circles hovered under her eyes and her mouth was pressed into a thin, frustrated line, but her chocolate eyes were sharp and clear as they regarded him from across the bed. There was an assessing fierceness in her gaze that he noticed and he found himself hoping that he had shown her whatever she was searching for.

"You love her," she told him.

The simple truth of her statement caught him off guard, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Yes." He winced internally at how it must sound.

The smile that spread across her face threw him even more. "Good," she said. "She's been waiting a long time for you."

He let his confusion bleed into his expression. This woman confused him more each second. "How can you just accept what I say like that? It doesn't seem odd to you that I'm confessing to loving her after I've met her twice?"

"Twice? So, it was you that she met earlier?"

A little burst of pleasure tingled in his chest as she admitted that Alice had talked about him though their meeting had been so brief. He nodded.

She shrugged. "If you were like most people, it would, but I happen to know real love when I see it."

"Real love?" he asked incredulously. "How do you know?"

Bella let a small smile turn her lips upward. "Because I've experienced it myself."

His surprised expression must have amused her because her lips turned up in a small smile.

"Edward and I have been together since our junior year of high school. From the moment I saw him, I stopped living for myself because I knew that I existed solely for him. It was just good luck that he felt exactly the same way about me." She pressed a soft kiss to the back of Alice's hand. "It kind of runs in the family that they fall in love like that, Edward with me, his brother Emmett with his wife, Rosalie, their father, Carlisle, with his wife, Esme. And they've all had the good luck to find people with the same capacity to give themselves in the same way."

Jasper felt a sliver of despair needle its way into his chest. "How do you know if she'll feel the same?"

Bella just smiled.

* * *

Consciousness drifted back slowly, little flickers of sound breaking through the darkness. A soft beep, a quiet shuffle, a low whisper all helped Alice float back to self awareness. She breathed in deeply, the reflex action interrupted by an unfamiliar pressure under her nose. Her hands flew up to rip the foreign object away as her eyes snapped open. The cold, white walls gave her pause. She looked at her hand to see a nasal cannula in her fist and an IV needle embedded in the back of her hand. She was in the hospital.

A quick glance around the room revealed that Bella lay in a partially reclined sleeper chair, covered by a blanket. Her makeup was smudged and her lower lip was raw.

Otherwise Alice was alone. Taking the opportunity, she pulled the IV from her hand and switched off the monitors before detaching the rest of the monitoring systems. There were advantages to having a doctor for a father figure. She slipped out of bed, pushing a chair aside, and crept into the bathroom, closing the door as quietly as she could to keep from waking her best friend. As soon as the lock clicked into place, she let out the breath she had been holding.

The light was dim, but Alice didn't mind. She lowered herself carefully to a seat on the shower chair and tried to remember what might she have done to get landed in the hospital. She remembered most of the night up to deciding to crash in the spare room next to the club's offices. After that, her recollection was spotty. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cold tile. After that last drink, the music had swept her away. Brief flashes of memory darted through her head. The drink, the dancing, the hand around her wrist leading away from the dancing, the wall pressed against her back, a powerful grip on her thigh, the painful hold on her breast…Alice gasped, tears of shock and horror springing to her eyes immediately.

Shaking violently, she pulled up the edge of the hospital gown to expose the top of her leg. She blinked rapidly to keep her vision clear as the gown cleared the top of her right thigh. A sob escaped as she saw the florid bruise in the shape of a man's hand marking her leg just under her hip. She pressed it and winced in pain, but what worried her was what she didn't feel. Tears burst forth, spilling in endless waves down her cheeks.

A full minute passed before she made a sound. Somehow her body broke through its paralysis and she gasped in a deep shuddering breath. The air freed her vocal chords and a wail loud enough to wake the dead issued from her throat.

She didn't hear the shouts outside the door nor did she acknowledge the violent pounding on the door after the handle refused to turn. All she knew was deep, solid grief.

Time passed, minutes or hours she couldn't be sure, but the flood eventually slowed to a trickle and then it stopped completely. She felt empty. She could hear both Edward and Bella pleading through the door for her to let them in, but she couldn't move. It was as if the flood had drained everything out of her but the most basic instincts.

She shivered, her skin feeling brittle and cold as ice. She turned on the shower, making the water as hot as she could stand it and just sat there under the spray watching the room fill with steam.

When the custodian finally came with the master key to unlock the door, that was how they found her, shivering and staring at nothing.

Bella shoved the nurse out of the way and shut off the water. She grabbed a thin towel from the rack and draped it over Alice's shoulders. She took another towel and crouched in front of her to lay the towel across her legs, rubbing her skin through the fabric. "Hey, Alice," she said softly. She paused every couple of seconds to scrub her hand across her face.

"What did he to do me?" Alice rasped, her throat raw.

Bella glanced over her shoulder at Edward. He shook his head fractionally.

"Tell me. Now," Alice ordered. She stared directly at Bella, her empty dark eyes boring ruthlessly into Bella's soft chocolate ones.

Bella sighed. "You were given GHB, which in small doses induces euphoria in most people. You, however, appear to be extremely sensitive to it and the dose he gave you was too high combined with all that alcohol in your system."

"Is that why I don't remember?"

Bella nodded. "Yeah."

"What else?"

"Um." She glanced at Edward again before continuing, "He got you to one of the dark corners…and…"

"Raped me?" Her voice sounded cold and dead, even to her.

Bella almost lost her control. "No. He didn't." She forced the words through her teeth, just managing to hold on. "Jasper got there just in time."

The jolt of surprise sparked a brief light in Alice's flat gaze. "Jasper?"

Bella nodded, confirming Alice's thoughts. They had met again.

Edward stepped forward and crouched next to Bella, taking Alice's hand in his. His light eyes contained a mixture of fury, anguish and relief. "Yes. Jasper Whitlock, my partner. He stepped in when he noticed what was going on. It's thanks to him that you're okay. The police have the asshole that assaulted you in custody."

The ice inside her thawed a little at the mention of his name. Jasper. "I want to go home," she said.

Edward nodded and left the room with the nurse. Bella stayed behind to help Alice into some dry clothes.

"I brought some sweats," Bella said, uncertainty in her eyes. "I know that you don't like wearing house clothes out in public, but you should be comfortable."

Alice shrugged indifferently. "That's fine. Thanks, Bella."

"He's still here, you know."

She looked up sharply, mild panic speeding her heart. "What?"

"Jasper is still here," Bella said again. "He wouldn't leave. He wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"Why?" Embarrassment flooded her body. He had seen her as a victim, drugged and abused. Now she would only get his pity, if anything.

Bella rubbed her forehead with her finger and thumb. "He was really worried about you." She paused, indecision clear in her face. "When we got downstairs, you were already unconscious and he was holding you so carefully. The expression on his face just reminded me of the way Edward looks at me when I'm hurt. He was terrified for you. He wouldn't let Edward take you."

Alice snorted and shook her head.

"No, really, Alice." Bella took hold of her hands and squeezed them tightly. "I think he's your Edward."

* * *

Jasper leaned against the wall that separated Alice's room from the hallway. He could see Edward speaking in level, but menacing tones with the discharge nurse to get Alice released. He had never felt so helpless in his life.

Hearing Alice cry like that had torn him apart. He wanted nothing more than to kick the door down, pull her into his arms and surround her with the inexplicable, life-changing love he felt for her if only to let her know that he would always be there when she needed him. Only his fear of frightening her further kept him from pleading though the door next to Edward and Bella. The silence after the flood scared him more than her cries had.

Figures that she would have awakened the only time he had left her side. He had wanted to be there to hold her hand, to reassure her, to make certain that she was all right.

He could hear the soft murmur of her voice intermingled with Bella's. He tried not to listen to the words, but hearing her voice calmed some of the chaos in his head. He let the doctor's words play over in his head. "She's sustained a cut lip and some bad bruising, but otherwise she is okay. She might be skittish around men for a while, so take it slow and never leave her alone. I'll prescribe some painkillers for her, but keep an eye on them. It's hard to tell how it will affect her right now."

"Jasper?" Bella's soft call brought him around.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes. It had been a long night. "Yes?"

She beckoned him over. "She'd like to see you."


	5. Awkward Meeting

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She didn't want to do it. She didn't want to meet him because she knew that disappointment was sure to follow. Alice pressed her fingers into her temples to ease the tension behind her eyes. She tried to frown, but the action pulled at her lip and made her wince.

"Hello?"

She jumped and pressed her hand to her chest as she turned to face him, trying to suppress the light trembling of her limbs with pressure. "Hi," she said.

He stood by the door, unsure of whether to come in or not. His clothes were wrinkled beneath his trench coat. He was wearing the same thing in which they had met the first time.

"Come in," she said quickly, moving forward half a step. She added, "Please." Her fingers wanted to twist themselves into knots so she stuffed them into the pocket in her sweatshirt.

Seconds ticked by and the two of them just stared at each other. He stepped inside and stopped near the foot of the bed, resting one hand on the foot rail. His hands were perfect, she noticed. The fingers were long and elegant, like an aristocrat.

Finally, he spoke. "How are you feeling?" There were circles under his eyes. He watched her without apology, the intensity making her squirm.

"A little shaken," she said honestly. "A little bruised, but I'll be okay. Thank you, again. Jasper." Nervous fingers raked through her short dark hair. Her heart was beating so fast that she was beginning to feel a little light-headed. She felt like she was going to cry again. She squeezed her eyes shut to keep them from flooding.

He turned his gaze to the window. "I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner." With his head turned, the tendons in his neck stood out and his jaw was tight. "When I saw the pain on your face and the tears, I just – and then you closed your eyes, like you had given up. He's lucky to be alive." He spat the words out as though they tasted bad. His lovely eyes were dark again.

She was almost thankful that she didn't remember most of the incident. She did remember the feel of the man's hands clamped like a vice on her body and shuddered. One or two drops of moisture spilled down her face and a strangled little gasp escaped her throat.

"I'm sorry," he said gently, his eyes lightening as he noticed her reaction. He crossed the room and sat on the bed close to where she stood. "Alice, I'm so sorry."

His fingers felt like the first touch of sunlight in the spring after a long winter, soft and warm and comforting, when they flicked the tears from her face. Her eyes snapped open to see him watching her with carefully shuttered eyes. It made her hurt to see him closed off like that. She hoped he wasn't hiding his disgust for her. More tears slipped from her control. That would make it so much harder. "Don't – " she said, the words halted as she choked on them. She had no right.

He started to withdraw his hand, but she stopped him, her own hand flying up to flatten his on her cheek. "I apologise if I -, " he started, but her action silenced him. Instead, his hand curled over her cheek as hers hooked lightly around his wrist, his fingers sliding into her hair.

Unconsciously, her eyes closed a little and she leaned into him, craving his touch. Her chest ached in a way that had nothing to do with the events of the previous night. He was so beautiful. Her fingertips rubbed lightly on the inside of his wrist. His pulse was strong and fast, the heat of his body seeped into her skin.

"Alice," he said softly.

This time a shiver of a different nature shifted her petite frame. Her name sounded like an endearment on his tongue. That accent only added fuel to the fire raging within her. It was easy to pretend that he could love her when he said her name like that.

A knock on the door made them both jump and Edward stuck his head inside. Jasper dropped his hand. "We're good to go, Alice." His eyes took in the scene, but he said nothing when Alice gave a little shake of her head.

"I'll be right there," she assured him as she grabbed the small tote containing her clothes from last night. She would be glad to get home. The blank sterility of hospitals always brought back bad memories. She shifted slightly, pausing in front of him, unsure of how one went about thanking the man, that one happened to be inexplicably and ridiculously in love with for no apparent reason, who saved her from the worst violation a woman could experience.

"Take care, Alice," he murmured.

"You, too," she managed. The urge to throw herself against him and never let go was barely contained. She froze, suddenly disgusted with herself. Here she was, the almost victim of sexual assault, and she was ready to throw caution to the wind for this man she had met twice. Gathering her will power, Alice stepped past him though she wanted to scream at the emptiness that grew the farther she got from him.

Edward and Bella were waiting for her outside the room. Both noted her somber expression and few words were spoken the entire trip home. She was already half asleep by the time they pulled into the garage, so Edward lifted her gently out of the car and carried her up the two flights of stairs to her floor. He set her on her feet, supporting her with one arm as he pulled back the covers, and guided her down to the mattress. He pressed a careful kiss to her forehead and brushed her hair out of her eyes like she were a little girl.

"Bella will be in to stay with you in a minute."

The door clicked shut behind him and Alice was left alone with her thoughts.

She closed her eyes conjuring him up in her head, trying to remember every detail. His hand had felt so warm on her face. His touch had been so gentle. Tears rose again as her brain continued to fabricate more elaborate fantasies, all of them from a future with him. She could see them out to dinner in fancy clothes or at home on the couch wearing pajamas and watching a movie. She could feel his lips on hers after accepting his marriage proposal and his hand shaking as he placed the ring on her finger. She could hear him whispering his love to her as they lay tangled in their sheets when he thought she was asleep and singing softly to their newborn child so that she could rest for just a while longer. The ache that filled her chest threatened to suffocate her.

The bright daylight filtering through her curtains stung her eyes when she rolled over and she wriggled to her feet. Shuffling over to the windows, she flipped a switch and shuffled back to lay down again as opaque screens descended to block out the light. She did not feel like facing the world for quite a while.

The bed barely shook under her weight and she snuggled deep under the covers to give in to the exhaustion that had plagued her since leaving the hospital. She traced her fingers over the pattern on her sheets and mused about how long it had been since she'd been in a relationship, or even how long it had been since she'd woken up in the same bed with someone. She wondered if he would look just as perfect in the morning after a long night of fierce and tender lovemaking. She imagined he would look even better.

She groaned. It was impossible to get him out of her head.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked as she tiptoed into the room.

Alice shifted over to make room. "Yeah. I'm just crazy."

Bella climbed into bed next to her best friend and took hold of her hand. "You're not crazy, Alice," she sighed.

"Then why can't I stop thinking about him? I have met him _twice_. It doesn't make any sense! I was just attacked, for fuck's sake, and all I want are his arms around me." She threw a pillow across the room, her face twisted into a mask of self-disgust.

"Love doesn't always make sense. Look at me and Edward," Bella pointed out. "Who would have ever guessed that we would fall in love? Well, that Edward would fall in love with me. We are completely opposite, but we are perfect for each other."

Alice covered her face with the sheet to hide her expression. "What if he doesn't like me when he knows everything? Bella, I can already tell that I'm a hopeless case when it comes to this guy. I can't take the 'getting to know you' if it's going to end badly." She yawned, the comfortable heat of the bed starting to draw her into sleep. "I already want so much more."

"I don't think you have to worry about that with Jasper," Bella said. She fluffed the blankets around Alice, happy to encourage some real rest. God knew, the woman needed it.

The screens clicked as they settled into place. "You'd think we could make them move faster," Alice grumbled. She cast about in her head, searching for anything to distract her brain from thoughts of Jasper while ignoring Bella's comment. It was useless. "So, this is how Edward felt." She remembered sitting up with him late into the night on many occasions to analyze every exchange between Bella and himself, every look, every touch, every breath. It hadn't bothered her then. She had decided to live vicariously through him until she found her own love. She had been content to wait, certain that she would find someone to love her just as much as Edward loved Bella and Emmett loved Rosalie, but the sudden return of her memory sank any hopes she had of a life like theirs. No one wanted damaged goods.

Bella stroked Alice's hair, wary of her fragile emotional state. "It will all work out, Alice. You deserve this love, whether you believe it or not. Try to get some rest and we'll worry about it tomorrow." She was rewarded a few minutes later with the soft snuffle Alice made as she slipped into the deeper layers of sleep. Careful not to make a sound, Bella crept out of the room.

* * *

Jasper left the hospital in a daze. His hand tingled where he had made contact with her skin. Her cheek had been so cool under his hand. He raised the other one automatically to hail a cab.

Their meeting had confused him, angered him. He had imagined a thousand different scenarios, from a scream of horror to a disinterested shrug, but he still hadn't been prepared. She had looked like a child in her sweatpants and hoodie with her pale skin devoid of makeup and her eyes wide as she saw him standing in the doorway. He had thought that it would be difficult to keep himself away, but the uncertainty was so great that it had been hard to move, even when she invited him in. He didn't want to traumatize her further.

She looked nervous, her fingers twisting together into knots.

He asked how she was feeling, wincing even as the words were out of his mouth.

Her soft, honest answer rekindled the rage inside him at the animal that had attempted to hurt her. He couldn't look at her, with the marks just visible on her neck and her torn and swollen lower lip, so he turned his head as he tried to express how he had felt. Instead, he made her cry. Her quiet gasp had brought him back to the present and terrible guilt swept through him when he saw the glitter of tears on her face.

Jasper punched the seat beside him and ignored the sharp look of alarm from the cab driver. He had been such an idiot, but he hadn't been able to stop himself from brushing the tears away, from wishing that he could wrap himself around her and absorb all the pain she had ever felt.

The familiar white building in which Jasper resided came into view as the cab turned the corner. He tossed a couple of bills into the front seat and stepped onto the sidewalk, too tired and distracted to care what the man thought.

Eddie, the doorman, nodded in greeting. Jasper waved and hit the button for the elevator. He usually took the stairs, but he didn't think that he could manage thirty flights in his state. Of course, he'd _had_ to pick a top floor apartment. The doors opened with a chime and he stumbled inside, clumsily hitting the button for his floor. He let his body rest against the wall with his head tilted back and his eyes closed as he remembered a little more of Alice.

He hadn't been able to keep his distance once the tears started. Even when he sat on the bed, they were almost on level with each other. He had sealed his emotions away by the time he sat near her, unwilling to take a chance of upsetting her more. Her tears were hot, but her skin was cool under his fingertips as he brushed the moisture away.

The sudden impact of her gaze as her eyes flew open at his touch hit him like a kick to the gut. There was so much behind her onyx stare, so much fear, so much anguish and disappointment, and yet he could see the hope glowing weakly behind everything else. He kept his shields in place, for if he released the tiniest bit of control, he would be lost. It was so easy to see that she had been hurt before, deeply and in a way that would last a long time, if not forever. He wanted to destroy those responsible.

"Don't – "she had rasped, mild panic surfacing before she wrestled it all back.

He reluctantly removed his hand from her face, surprised when she caught it with her own and pressed his fingers to her skin. Hesitantly and searching for any sign of rejection, he slid his hand back across her cheek to cup her face in his hand. A small tremor of gratitude for her acceptance of his touch unfurled in his chest.

The metallic chime of the elevator roused him and Jasper managed to make it from the elevator to his front door without tripping once. The emotionally chaotic events of the last twelve hours had drained him completely. It took him three tries to get the key into the lock.

When he finally managed to get inside, he kicked the door shut and left a trail of clothing from the front door to the bedroom. He was barely conscious enough to pull back the sheets before he collapsed onto the mattress. Some basic instinct guided him in pulling the soft flannel and thick comforter around him, he hated sleeping cold, as he drifted off into dreams of a certain young woman.

He woke some hours later with the harsh bright glare of the mid-afternoon sun staring him in the face. He turned over with a growl and pulled the blankets up to cocoon himself in his own world of warmth and darkness as he tried to slip back into his dream. He could almost feel the soft body pressed against his and the light pressure of lips on his skin as he fought to slide back down into REM sleep, but the sensations soon faded and he was forced to admit even to himself that he was awake.

Cursing quietly, he rolled to his back and squinted at the ceiling as his eyes adjusted to the light. That had been a good dream. The state of his body certainly attested to that, but he was going to put off pursuits of personal pleasure until the woman of his fantasies was feeling better. He would feel wrong if he actively imagined certain compromising situations involving the two of them before she was back on her feet.

A muted buzz caught his attention and he scooted over to the edge of the bed to grab his pants from the floor and remove his phone from the pocket. A quick glance at the caller ID revealed his secretary's number and he flipped the phone open. "Hello, Susan, " he croaked, grimacing at the sound of his voice.

"Hi, Jasper," Susan chimed, the threat of laughter in her voice. "Long night?"

He just sighed. "Yeah, spent most of it at the hospital."

"The hospital?" Her tone sharpened with concern and all trace of mirth disappeared. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Jasper shook his head. "No, thank you. I'm fine. I was just checking on a young woman who had been attacked. A friend of a friend."

Susan clucked. "Oh, Jasper. I'm sorry to hear about that. Is she-?"

"She'll recover. What did you need, Susan?" He didn't want to talk about it anymore and he knew that Susan would pick up on the not so subtle hint.

Susan cleared her throat. "There was some issue with the copier," she said very low and very fast.

"I'm sorry?" Jasper was halfway between disbelief and amusement.

"There's an issue with the copier. I can't get it unjammed," she said, louder, but still very fast.

He started laughing and did not stop for a very long time.

Susan waited patiently on the other end of the phone, unwilling to say more because she knew that it would just prolong the laughter. It had always bothered her that no matter how many times she watched him flick open the doors or how many hours she studied the service manual, Susan could not remove a jam in the copier on her own to save her life. "Yes, thank you. I've waited as long as I possibly could. Can you tell me how to do it now?"

He smothered his laughter at her sharp tone and asked her to describe the small picture on the display that indicated where the jam was located. It took twenty minutes to talk her through the procedure, snickering the entire time. She only let him off the phone when the machine had started up again and he let it drop to the pillow beside his head with a broad smile. It always killed him that a woman as amazingly intelligent and talented as she simply couldn't understand the workings of the copy machine.

With a noise somewhere between a sigh and a grunt, Jasper heaved himself out of bed and into the bathroom. He turned the shower on as he brushed his teeth and climbed under the scalding hot spray. The water beat down on him, the heat penetrating his muscles and the pressure assisting the heat in relaxing the tension away. He wondered how Alice was doing.


	6. Dinner Plans

**Disclaimer: I claim no right to the **_**Twilight**_** universe. Please Review!**

Two hours, twenty-three minutes and forty-seven, oh, forty-six seconds until the workday was officially over. Two hundred and forty-six hours, sixteen minutes and seven seconds since she had been pinned to a wall by some creep trying to rape her. Alice stared at the clock and sighed. There was no way she was going to get through the rest of the work day.

She glanced at her phone. Two hundred and thirty-nine hours, forty-eight minutes and twenty-two seconds since she had left Jasper in the hospital room, her body aching in two different ways.

With a sigh, she slapped the sample books shut and carried them back over to the shelves. Burying herself in work had kept her mind busy for a while, but it just wasn't enough anymore. The books slid into their places easily. She wished everything else would slide into place like that.

"I'm taking off, Amelia!" she called to the older woman in the back of the shop. "I'll see you on Monday." A quick wave was the only response she got, so Alice grabbed her purse and darted out the doors before Amelia could remember something that she needed. Guilt flared up, but Alice pushed it away. She needed a break and Amelia could handle running the boutique on her own for a few days.

Her car hummed to life, the smooth vibrations soothing some of the tension in her body. With a small sigh of relief, Alice maneuvered out of the parking space and slipped onto the street. She enjoyed the feeling of blending in, of becoming a part of the crowd in pseudo-acceptance.

With a little growl, she shook her head clear of those thoughts. She had to remind herself that it would take time to recover, but she knew that life wasn't going to wait for her to recover her balance. She'd had enough time to pity herself, she decided and glanced at the clock. Seven thirty-five. Edward would be at _Luster_, preparing for their third weekend of business. She hadn't been back since opening night, but she figured that she could work up to the scene in degrees, starting when Edward was present and only employees were in the building.

Her tires squealed a little as she whipped into a parking space a little too quickly, but the sound only made her smile. Their whole family shared a special love of fast cars. In addition to taking driver's education classes, Carlisle had signed her up for a defensive driving course and several stunt driving classes, just to give her a hands on experience of what was possible in a car. He had only smiled when she caught Edward's same enthusiasm for speed. She hopped out of the car with a grin and set the alarm. The only time he had gotten upset was when she and Edward had been caught racing in an old track on the outskirts of town. And even then, he was only upset because they had been caught.

The service door was propped open, so she just walked in, ignoring the shiver of dread crawling up and down her spine. Waving to a couple of workers she didn't quite know by name, Alice slipped through the partitions separating the club from the rest of the building.

A sudden wave of fear nearly overwhelmed her as she surveyed the interior of the club, though everything seemed so different with all the lights on, soft classical music playing through the speakers and only two other people moving around the room. She braced herself on the lip of the bar and pressed her hand to her sternum as she took deep breaths to calm down. After a few minutes, the panic faded and she straightened from the bar. She set her jaw and exhaled decisively. She was not going to let that asshole turn her into a quivering ball of fear at the thought of one of her favorite activities.

The room oddly felt so much smaller without the crush of people filling the main dance floor. She took careful, measured steps around the floor to familiarize herself with the layout but still avoiding the site of the altercation. She wasn't quite ready yet.

Alice folded her arms tightly across her chest, seeking every bit of extra warmth she could find as the air seemed to grow colder. Finally, she stopped pacing and just stood, her eyes locked on that section of wall to which she had been pinned. One hand slid up to cup her throat, the other sliding down to press against her hip. The bruises had faded to nothing, but she could still feel the suction of his mouth and the pressure of his grip. She shuddered. "Fuck you," she whispered to the ghost of the memory, her dark eyes hard and flat. "Fuck you." The knot of unease in her stomach loosened a little.

"Alice?" Edward had opened one of the windows of his office and leaned out to call to her. She could practically see the urge to protect shimmering in the air around him. "What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "Hey, Edward. I'm not doing anything. I just left work early and decided to come by to see you. Is this a bad time? I can go." She tucked her hair behind her ear as she watched his face shift while he decided what he wanted to say.

"No, no. Come on up. I've got something to show you anyway." He disappeared from view.

Alice sighed and with a last glare at the wall, picked her way across the floor to the VIP staircase. She wound her way around the tables and slipped through the partition. As she approached the second flight of stairs leading to Edward's office, a dull glow from a room she hadn't noticed before caught her eye. Always curious, she changed her route to determine what this new room was. Edward could wait.

She pushed the door open and her mouth dropped open. Several computer monitors covered much of one wall, mounted in precise lines. The image on each was a view of a different section of the club in an odd greenish cast. Night vision, she realized.

"Oh, hey."

She jumped at Edward's voice.

"Mmm, sorry," he said. "I thought you heard me." He slung an arm around her shoulder and pressed her to his side in a quick hug. "How's work?"

Alice wrinkled her nose. "Boring. What is this?" She waved at the monitors, knowing what it was but wanting to hear him say it.

"A monitoring system. I can't believe I didn't have one installed earlier," he said. His light eyes were serious as they watched her reaction. She said nothing, so he continued. "When that, you know, happened, it made me think about all the other women that might have suffered the same thing in one of my clubs. I hate that it took something happening to you to get it into my head, but I figured that having a system like this might decrease the incidence of assault, at least here."

"Oh," was all she said. She knew that he was waiting for more from her, but she couldn't quite muster up a response. "I hope it works."

A scowl crossed his face.

"No," she said, feeling bad about her reaction to his efforts. "This is a great idea. I'm just a little shook up from being in here. Even without all the people in it…it still has an effect, okay?"

Edward's features softened. "I'm sorry. I wanted to make you feel safer." He sat down in the swivel chair in front of the monitors.

She moved forward, placing her hand on his shoulder.

His hand covered hers and squeezed gently.

Alice appreciated how they didn't need to do or say anything to communicate, though it often frustrated the other members of the family. A small smile tilted the corners of her mouth upwards. Time to themselves didn't happen quite as often as it used to with Bella around. To be sure, Alice didn't really mind at all, because she loved Bella like family, but these moments were nice when they came along. It was like a tribute to the way things used to be without feelings of resentment or regret. It was soothing to know that the connection was still there. With a sigh, she stretched up and prepared to leave.

"I'll be home in a couple of hours. Tell Bella, would you?" he said as she shifted.

He always knew what she was thinking, almost before she did. She rolled her eyes kissed his cheek. "Will do, brother dear. I'll see you later."

The darkened stairwells and poorly lit dance floor seemed far less sinister than half an hour ago. She smoothed chapstick over her lips as she passed the "corner of hell" and only the barest flicker of apprehension slid through her. She smiled to herself. It wouldn't be long before she was back on her feet entirely.

She slid into her car with much higher spirits than she had possessed in getting out and demonstrated that lightness of feeling by blasting her favorite tunes at much higher volumes than usual. In fact, when she got home and shut off the car, she could still hear the bass from the last song thrumming in her head. She was going to have a headache later.

As she reached for the doorknob, the door separating the garage and the rest of the house flew open and Bella tumbled through with a soft shriek. Alice caught her hand and pulled, bringing her back to equilibrium. "You okay?" she asked with a smile.

Bella scowled. "Thanks," she said and tugged her clothing back into place. "Yeah, I'm fine. My feet just don't like me. You're home early."

Alice shrugged. "Yeah. It was slow and I couldn't take it anymore. Amelia can handle things for a few days."

Her friend's face brightened. "You're taking time off? Good, then you can help me study. I've got barely enough time to get prepared for finals. I'm going to need all the help I can get."

Alice couldn't help but laugh at the expression of desperation. "Of course." She looped her arm around the taller woman's waist and hugged her. "Edward said he'd be home in a couple of hours."

"Good. I wouldn't want him to miss dinner. I'm having someone over," she said, glancing at the large clock mounted over the workbench. "Oh, shoot. Can you grab some wine? I've got to check on the lamb." Bella whirled around and darted up the stairs, while Alice silently applauded as she made it up the stairs without a spill.

Wondering who could be their guest, Alice shuffled into the wine cellar and selected a few bottles of red and white, just to cover the bases. She took the stairs carefully, mindful of her high heels and the many bottles balanced in precarious positions. Bella met her at the top of the stairs and took two of the five bottles. Alice set the rest on the counter.

"Will you be okay? I'm going to go take a shower," Alice asked. She didn't really want to help and she knew that Bella didn't really want her help, but she had to ask.

Bella waved her off. "I think I'll be okay. Enjoy your shower." She turned her back and busied herself over the food in a frenzy.

Alice grinned and took off to her floor, shivering in anticipation of boiling hot water easing the tension in her body. She slipped through the door of her apartment and clothes started hitting the floor as she headed toward the bathroom. The hiss of the water moving through the pipes caused a deep sense of satisfaction to bubble through her body and on impulse she decided to take a bath. She closed the drain and sat back watching the steam rise as the tub filled.

The pipes groaned as she shut the water off. She set a big fluffy towel on the small table next to the bathtub and proceeded to enter the water in degrees. First the toes of her left foot, then her foot up to the ankle and so on until almost her entire body was submerged underwater. Soft moans of bliss issued from her throat as the heat enveloped her and the tension drained from her muscles in a slow but satisfying flow.

Nearly an hour passed and Alice didn't realize that she had fallen asleep until a sharp rap on her door jolted her from her dreams.

"Wake up!" Bella called. "Dinner's in forty-five and our guest will be here soon. You need to get ready."

Alice slowly shook herself awake and washed in a mild hurry. It wouldn't do to disappoint their guest.

Barely twenty minutes later, a record for Alice, she padded down the steps in her bare feet and hopped up to sit on the counter near the refrigerator where she would be mostly out of Bella's way. "So, who is this person?" she asked, running her fingers through the beaded fringe on her shirt.

"He's a friend, so be nice," Bella answered shortly.

Alice narrowed her dark eyes at her best friend. Bella was trying very hard not to give something away. Alice knew all the signs and it made her very suspicious. "He?" she asked, her voice deceptively mild.

"Yep," Bella said. She was very obviously not looking at Alice, keeping her eyes firmly on the food she was preparing.

Alice wanted to growl, but the doorbell rang and effectively cut off anything she was going to say.

"Could you get that?" Bella asked, the excitement in her voice barely contained.

It was a blind date, Alice realized as she slid to the floor. She glared at her best friend. "I thought that you were over trying to fix me up! This isn't funny, Bella. I'm sending him home." She didn't give Bella a chance to answer as she stomped down the steps, the sound not nearly as satisfying in her bare feet as when she wore boots. She flipped the locks and wrenched the door open in three angry motions, saying, "Look, pal. I don't know what Bella told you, but you can just – " The words froze in her throat as she stared at the man standing just outside the doorway. She knew that her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were wide, but she couldn't force her body to move. He looked just as surprised.

"Hello, Alice," Jasper said.

The obvious shock on her face and her lack of reaction to his greeting left Jasper feeling slightly uncomfortable. Whatever Bella had said, he was certain that this was not the reaction the woman had been hoping for, so he just watched her. Slowly, her features thawed and flowed back into a more relaxed expression, though her eyes remained wide.

"May I come in? Or would you prefer that I leave?" he asked, teasing her gently in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You don't seem too keen on me being here."

She shook herself a little and stepped back, good manners overriding her initial reaction. "No, please. Come in," she said a little breathily. She shut the door behind him and held out her hands. "Can I take your coat?"

Obligingly, he slid the trench from his shoulders and laid it across her hands. "Thank you," he said, watching her pull open the coat closet door and slip it onto a hangar.

With a small jerk of her head, she started up the stairs and he followed close behind, amused when he noticed that she had nothing on her feet. They reached the top of the stairs and she immediately made a beeline for the young woman darting around the large kitchen.

"Hello, Jasper," Bella greeted him warmly, ignoring Alice as she crossed the room to shake his hand. "Edward will be back soon. Would you like some wine?"

He smiled, noticing the strain at the corners of her mouth. "Yes. That would be lovely. Is there something that I might help you with?" He followed her across the expansive living room and into the large kitchen.

"Oh, no. I've got it handled. Red or white?"

He glanced at Alice, unable to quell the surge of desire he felt just seeing her again. No need to make it worse. "White, please."

Bella turned to the petite brunette with an expectant look. "Alice?"

Alice nodded. "Of course," she said softly and dodged neatly around the two of them to the refrigerator. She pulled a bottle from the door and opened it quickly, grabbing two glasses from the cupboard. She poured the wine with an expert hand, dumping considerably more into one glass than the other. There was a slight tremble in her hand as she handed him the less full glass.

He made sure their fingers touched when he took the glass from her and felt he won a small victory when her eyes finally flickered up to meet his. He thanked her and heat flared beneath her pale skin, drawing a beautiful flush to her cheek.

She took a long drink.

Jasper could practically see the emotions roiling through her as they flickered through the obsidian depths of her eyes. It was as though he could almost feel her apprehension and dismay, though it was tempered by her innate sensitivity. He glanced at the other woman and sensed her desperate hope for something good to come from this meeting in the way her gaze flitted between the two of them.

The deep rumbling of the garage door below them shattered the odd silence that fell over the room. The sound snapped whatever had been holding Alice together and she jumped to her feet from the seat she had taken at the counter. Wine sloshed over the rim of her glass as she practically threw it onto the counter. "That's Edward," she said and fled from the room to the garage stairs.

Jasper carefully schooled his face into a neutral expression as he stared at the glass in his hand, fighting the tide of despair threatening to drown him.

Bella laid her hand on his arm. "It will be okay."

"She doesn't want me here. I should go," he said.

Bella's hand tightened on his arm. "No," she snapped. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw set. "You are going to stay for dinner and Alice is just going to have to get over it."

Jasper disengaged her fingers. "I doubt that she'll like me any better if my company is forced upon her.


	7. High Anxiety

Disclaimer: I claim no right to the Twilight universe. Please Review!

Alice felt her cheeks flame as she practically ran away from him, darting down the stairs and into the garage to intercept Edward before he entered the house. Shame made the tears flow thick and hot from her eyes as she threw herself against her brother as he closed his car door. "I can't do this. I just can't," she said over and over again, her voice breaking as she sobbed.

Edward wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up, carrying her over to the workbench, where he sat and held her as she cried. His hands smoothed over her hair and down her back as he questioned her softly, trying to get answers from her. "What happened, Alice? What can't you do?"

She heard the tightly controlled rage and fear in his voice as he spoke to her, but she couldn't care as every emotion she had suppressed while in Jasper's company rose to the surface. Long minutes passed until she quieted enough to speak. Edward's heart thumped in a furious rhythm beneath where her ear pressed against his chest and his torso expanded in shallow, controlled breaths.

"What is wrong?" he tried again, managing to keep his voice soft and even as he blotted her face with his sleeve.

"Jasper is here," she rasped.

Edward blinked, her answer leaving him confused. "Why is that bad?"

"He saw me like – like that. I can't face him, Edward," she cried. Her teeth started chattering, she was shaking so hard. She buried her face in her hands.

He hugged her close and kissed her forehead. Bella had told him of Alice and Jasper's encounter prior the events at the club and of Alice's intense reaction to the man. A small part of him was wary, but much more of him was glad that she had finally found someone with the capacity to care for her as she deserved. "He's not the kind of guy that would hold that over you or allow it to influence his opinion of you. He's a good man. I wouldn't do business with him otherwise."

Alice shook her head. "I am broken, Edward. I can't pretend to be okay when he's around. There's just something about him that strips everything away, like I want him to see me, but I know that if he does, I'm going to end up alone again." The absolute certainty and despair in her voice nearly broke his heart.

Edward stood and placed her on the workbench so that she would be on eye level with him. He gently pulled at her hands until they came away from her face and he could force her to look him in the eye. "You are not broken, Alice. You have been hurt in ways that take a very long time to heal, but there is so much more to you than your past before becoming part of our family. Just because you have remembered your birth parents and the terrible people they were, does not mean that you are any different than when you didn't remember. All it means is that there is a new side that you need to reconcile. You are still an amazingly talented clothing designer and dancer. You are still beautiful and generous and ridiculously intelligent and creative. You have the capacity to love as deeply as anyone in this family and you deserve to be loved just as much, if not more than the rest of us. He would be insane to pass up the chance to love you."

Her face nearly crumbled again.

"And I don't think he's insane," Edward added softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I think he's entirely in his right mind. So, relax and give the guy a chance. He just might be the one you've been waiting for." He wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumbs and held her face until she gave him a small smile. "Good."

Alice wiped her face clear of ruined makeup, Edward nodding when she got it all, and let him lift her down. "Thank you," she said, emotion thick in her voice.

Edward shrugged. "That's what I'm here for," he told her and offered her his arm. She took it with a tremulous smile and they marched upstairs together.

Bella's face brightened considerably as they crested the stairs, and even Jasper looked a little relieved as he watched them over his shoulder though his eyes narrowed as he took in her flushed cheeks and bright eyes.

"Is everything okay? Ow," Bella asked, clipping her shin as she moved around the island to greet Edward with a proper hug and kiss. He forced her to sit in one of the tall chairs lining the island and lifted her calf so that he could examine her leg.

Alice moved to stand closer to Jasper. "Disgusting, aren't they?" she said with a tiny smile on her lips and a hint of longing in her quiet words. She glanced over at him, a little startled to find him looking at her already with an odd expression on his face. She supposed that she should apologise. "I'm sorry about earlier. Your arrival kind of caught me off guard. That doesn't usually happen," she trailed off.

The right corner of his mouth quirked upward and her breathing accelerated a little. "I didn't mean to upset you," he said. "But I do confess that I wanted to see you again. I wasn't sure, with all that's happened, if you wanted to." He sounded uncertain. That alone made her feel much better.

She moved to retrieve her wine glass. "I don't think I was ready before, but I'm glad you're here now." She lifted the glass to her lips, hating the way her hand shook as they always did after she experienced intense emotion. His gaze settled like a blanket over her; she could feel its weight. Fighting down all of her uncertainty and terror, she lifted her eyes to meet his. Oddly enough, she felt safer with him close by.

"You kids go sit on the couch," Edward said, with a small shooing motion and an understanding smile for Alice. "I'll help Bella finish up and then we'll eat."

Jasper's look turned expectant and Alice had no choice but to lead the way across the expansive living room to the small cluster of couches at the far end. She settled onto her favorite loveseat and tucked her legs underneath her body, motioning for him to take a seat wherever he wished.

He sat next to her.

Heat flared up along his left side where his thigh pressed lightly against hers and spread throughout his body, fading to a low burn that he could almost ignore. He took another sip from his glass and he struggled with keeping himself under control. The quiet tension in her body and her rapid breaths helped him maintain his composure.

"So," she began, her voice soft and husky. She sounded like she had been crying. "What do you do for work? I'm sure that you have a job other than being a partner in Luster."

"I'm something of an investment banker," he told her. "I handle mostly international clients. The club is more of a personal diversion." His mouth stretched into a smile.

She nodded. "That sounds interesting," she said politely.

He wanted to laugh. "Not really," he admitted. "It pays the bills. That's about it."

Silence fell between them, stretching out in a comfortable few seconds.

"I haven't upset you, have I?" he asked suddenly, wanting to kick himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth. He already knew that he was a hopeless case when it came to her, but there was no need to broadcast it. Most women didn't like a man who was unsure of himself.

Her dark eyes went wide and she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. "No," she said slowly. "You haven't upset me." She paused, seeming to debate how she was going to say what she was thinking. "I've been dealing with a lot of unpleasant things."

"And I remind you of those things?" he interjected, unable to keep from voicing his fear.

She frowned, looking down at her hands. "It's not so much that you remind me, as I would prefer that you had not seen any of it." She took a deep breath to keep her emotions in check.

He gazed at her, studying her features as her struggles played out across her face. He could sense that she was close to another bout of tears. The unnatural brightness of her eyes paired with the near-translucent cast of her skin and the dark smudges on the breast pocket and cuffs of Edward's shirt hadn't escaped his notice earlier. He reached out and gently took her hand in his.

She flinched, almost pulling her hand away, but his grip remained firm.

"None of that matters, Alice," he said softly, squeezing her hand gently as she began to shake. Her skin was cold so he slid his other hand beneath hers. "I know that this doesn't make sense, that this seems crazy, but being away from you is very difficult for me. From the moment I saw you standing in that diner, you've been a constant presence in my head. I don't know what it means yet, but I'd like to have the chance to find out."

Her bottom lip trembled. Her lips parted.

"Dinner's ready," Bella called across the room.

As if a switch was thrown, Alice's face smoothed out and a veil dropped over her dark expressive eyes. Her mouth curved up into a false smile and she stood, scooping up her wine glass in a smooth motion and removing her hand from his. "You're in for a treat," she said. "Bella's the best cook around."

Jasper swallowed the disappointment burning in his throat and nodded as he followed her back to the neatly arranged dinner table. "I'm looking forward to it."

Conversation during the meal flowed smoothly as it hovered around stories of Bella's unfortunate lack of coordination and the ridiculous situations into which the three of them, along with Emmett and Rosalie, managed to get themselves during their high school and college years.

Jasper watched Alice out of the corner of his eye, marveling at the change in her as she grew more comfortable during stories of the past. He was certain that the several glasses of wine had assisted her, but he wasn't going to complain when her eyes lit up with laughter and her skin grew rosier with heat. She even glanced at him a few times, and he could see the slight smile in her eyes just before they slid away.

"No," she was saying. "No, no, no, Edward. That entire night was totally Emmett's fault, not mine. He was the one buying the booze and there's no way I'm going to pass up a free drink, especially when Emmett is buying."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Emmett is also six times your size and you should have known better…"

"Anyway," she said, cutting him off. "They found us six miles away from the house at ten the next morning, passed out on someone's front lawn. I don't remember what happened between leaving the club and waking up draped across Emmett's chest, but I do know that it was a great night."

Bella drained the last sip from her glass and stood to gather the plates. "And that is why each of Edward's clubs has an overnight room with two beds, a shower and clothes for each of them. We're just lucky that nothing happened to them, though I suppose no one would have messed with Emmett, even if he was drunk." She shook her head and winked at Alice behind Edward's back.

Alice hid her smile behind her hand as Edward gave her a mock-glare while he picked up the plates that Bella had left behind. The love and affection among the members of the Cullen family was obvious in the protective tone of Edward's warnings and the fondness in their voices as the spoke of the absent members of their family. She turned her gaze on him. "What about you? Here we are talking about ourselves and you're our guest."

He shrugged, his thoughts becoming difficult to grasp as he looked back at her. "There's not much to tell. I grew up in Texas, went to school there, moved out here to take over my dad's business when he died four years ago and the rest is history."

She looked like she wanted to press him for more information, but said nothing. Her eyes went wide and her head whipped around. Any sound she would have made was lost in a loud crash, Bella's squeal and Edward's curse. She leapt up from her seat and dashed around the island to where Edward and Bella were.

"Oh, shit, Bella," she said, her voice smooth and calm. "Look at me, honey. Don't look down. Here. Breathe through this."

Jasper quickly moved back to the kitchen to find Bella seated on the floor against the cupboards, her face chalky white and her left hand dripping with blood. Alice was holding her head tilted up and away from the ground, a dish towel over her nose and mouth. Edward was kneeling in the middle of the remains of a serving dish, her hand cradled in his as he pulled out a large shard of glass. Bella whimpered.

"Okay, Bella. It's all right. I'm going to wrap this up now," Edward said in a calm voice that belied the panic in his eyes.

Alice glanced down and winced. "Ugh, you'll need stitches again," she said, her features scrunching into a sympathetic grimace. She took hold of Bella's other hand and brought it up to her face. "Here, hold that in place so I can tie your hair back. Jasper, stay back there. There's glass all over the place."

Edward finished tying up the wound and grabbed another towel to wipe away the excess blood dripping down his girlfriend's arm.

The sight of it made every muscle in Jasper's body lock into place, effectively preventing him from doing anything at all. He had to fight the unwelcome heat flickering inside his body.

"Bella?" Alice shrilled, drawing his attention. Bella lay slumped over in her arms. "Damn, she's out. Do you want me to come?"

Edward barely glanced up at her question. "No, we'll be fine. I'll call you when I have news. Can you -?"

Alice was already nodding. She scrubbed a hand across her face, leaving bloody streaks on her pale skin. "Of course. Go." She helped Edward get Bella settled in his arms and tiptoed out of the glass after him. "Don't even worry about it, Edward. She'll be fine." She trailed downstairs after them, opening doors and speaking softly.

The garage door rumbled open and Jasper vaguely heard the squeal of tires as Edward screeched out onto the street. He couldn't tear his gaze away from the blood smeared across the floor.

"Jasper?" Alice called him from the top of the stairs.

With supreme force of will, he turned away from the kitchen to see her standing at the top of the stairs.

Her eyes widened and she crossed the room quickly to stand in front of him. "Are you okay?" She had to reach to place a cool hand on his cheek and he couldn't stop himself from leaning into her touch. Her dark hair twisted in distracted tangles around her face and her lips were parted slightly with her accelerated breaths. "Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I had blood on my hand. Come on."

He wanted to grab her face in his hands and devour her.

She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along after her. He marveled at the sudden change in her personality when faced with someone else's distress. She became self-assured and attentive, knowing exactly how to react to the person in distress. She flicked the lights on in the bathroom before pulling him in after her and pushing him to a seat on the closed toilet.

He watched her swift, graceful movements as she pulled a towel from the cabinets and twist the water on full blast. She scrubbed her hands vigorously with soap, rinsing and drying them quickly. Then she soaked a washcloth with water, grabbed his chin and proceeded to dab away the bloody fingerprints she had left on his cheek. The strokes were firm and gentle as she worked and her forehead wrinkled in concentration.

Having her so close did wonderful and frustrating things to his body and he had to fight to keep his hands to himself, and seeing the blood had already dumped a ton of adrenaline in his system. Her scent swirled around him, permeating the air and raising him to heights far higher than alcohol could ever take him, transforming the burn inside him to a different sort. Her fingers on his jaw held him secure, but he wanted them to be there in a much less clinical fashion.

"You're sensitive to blood, aren't you?" she asked softly, her eyes wary.

He nodded. "Yes, but not in a fainting kind of way." He hoped she didn't ask what he knew she was going to ask. He couldn't lie to her and it would hurt like hell when she recoiled from his answer.

She arched an eyebrow in curiosity and wiped the water away with the dry corner of the towel. "Then in what kind of way?" She straightened and let her fingertips slide along his jaw as she released him. She appeared to have no idea of how she affected him.

Damn. "It excites me."

Only because he was watching her closely did he notice the tiny ripple of nervousness travel up her body. The adrenaline was wearing off from Bella's accident and Alice was quickly crashing back down.

His eyes were fixed on her face. "You have blood…" He took the washcloth from her hands and performed the same favor she had done him.

She watched him, tense under his touch, as he gently removed the blood from her skin.

When he was done, he wrung the washcloth out and hung it on a towel rack. "Do you want me to leave?" he asked quietly. Every nerve in his body screamed out for him to take the question back, but he wanted to give her the choice.

She shook her head silently. She stood so still that he wasn't sure she was breathing. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath. "Please stay," she said, her voice cracking.


	8. Intense Reactions

Disclaimer: I claim no right to the Twilight universe. Please Review!

Warning: This chapter contains scenes of semi-explicit sexual activity. Consider yourself informed.

* * *

"And you've lived in Texas your whole life, except for the last few years?" Alice asked in wonder.

Jasper nodded with a smile. "I have. I take it that you've spend lots of time moving around?"

They sat on the floor in front of the fireplace, sipping hot cider and staring into the flames of the fire that took Alice nearly half an hour to build after she had scrubbed the kitchen down. She had refused to let Jasper help with either task, so he had just waited on the couch while she straightened the kitchen and watched with carefully concealed amusement as she struggled with arranging the wood just right and getting it to catch fire.

She shrugged, her dark hair falling forward into her face as she stared into her cup. "Carlisle loves to travel, so we've always been significantly mobile. We've all been around the world, helping him in his non-profit clinics during the summers and doing service trips during our winter breaks. He always let us have spring break to relax." Her smile was soft and reminiscent.

"I'll bet growing up in that house was a challenge, with your two older brothers. I imagine they were difficult to deal with," he said.

The smile melted off her face, replaced with a tight jaw and flat eyes. "I imagine they were."

He noted the changes with increasing dismay. "I'm sorry. Did I say something?"

She gave him an apologetic glance. "No. It's not something you would have known about. We were all adopted. Carlisle and Esme couldn't have children of their own, so they kind of took each of us in as we came along. He's something of a bleeding heart. Edward was first, then Emmett, and me. I was fifteen." She tucked a lock behind her ear.

"Oh," was all he could say. Questions were burning on his tongue, but he swallowed them, unwilling to say something that could cause her more discomfort.

"Carlisle was the best thing that could have ever happened to me," she admitted, shaking her head. "Without him, I'd probably be dead or completely out of my mind, at the very least. But I don't think you want to hear that story."

Jasper slipped his hand underneath her chin and turned her face toward his. He wanted to take away her pain. "Whatever happened, it doesn't matter." As he stared into her eyes, willing her to believe him, another part of him wanted to replace his fingers with his mouth, to run his tongue along the fine line of her jaw, to explore her throat with his lips and find the spot that would make her gasp.

She sighed. "I don't understand you."

He smiled. "I'm not that complicated." He released her jaw and returned his hand to his cup. It pleased him to see the ugly marks gone from her skin.

"Maybe not, but you give very little away." She shifted, wriggling around until she lay on her stomach propped on her elbows with her knees bent and her feet in the air. "And yet, I feel safe with you." Her brow wrinkled as she realized something. "Safer than I feel with Edward or even Emmett. Odd, isn't it?"

He stretched out on the floor beside her, laying on his back with one arm bent behind his head so that he could watch her. The firelight flickered and rippled, sending golden waves of light shimmering across her skin. He searched his mind long and hard, but he couldn't find a time when he had been so content in the presence of another person. "I feel calm with you," he told her, feeling it was only fair that he share with her as she had shared with him. "There's always a million things pulling at me from all different directions, but that seems to go away when I'm around you."

She looked sideways at him, her expression curious and soft. "There's so much you're not telling me," she murmured, like she was speaking to herself. He said nothing and she continued, "but I guess that it's only fair. There's a lot about me that you don't know yet, either."

The faint pulse of hope in his gut flared into a sizable force when Jasper heard the word "yet." Unable to contain himself, he scooted closer so that their sides touched. Her dark eyes snapped back to his face from the fire, a little wide in surprise, but when he made no further move, she relaxed again. He only watched, drinking in the way she flicked the ends of her hair with her nails and the perfect curve of her lips when she smiled at a thought. His fingers itched to trace her lips, her face, the line of her body.

With a sigh, she rolled onto her side, breaking their contact but still facing him. She looked much younger in the firelight, but not more innocent. The shadows lurking behind her eyes took care of that. Her eyes unfocused for a second. "Edward and Bella will be back in a little bit."

Jasper propped himself up on his elbow, his fingers picking at the carpet between them. "I should probably go," he said.

"I don't want you to," she whispered, her face heating as she looked away from him nervously. Her head tilted back so that she stared directly into the flames, stretching the pale column of her neck, exposing the soft, smooth skin.

Unbidden, the image of her stretched out like that across his bed invaded Jasper's mind. His breathing grew short as he imagined pressing his lips to the thin skin above her pulse and feeling her chest rise with the resultant gasp. Her clothing dissolved beneath his hand as he let it slide down her body, drifting over her shape. Blood rushed to his groin as he pictured her back arching lightly and her lips parting in a pleasured sigh when he sucked gently on her sensitive skin. With some difficulty, he dragged his thoughts back to the present, to reality.

She was staring at him, a flush lending color to her cheeks and her onyx eyes wide and filled with things he couldn't quite define. No. He could define them, but he was afraid of pushing her too far, too fast and ruining anything they might have, so he squelched down his knowledge of her attraction to him.

"I'll stay until they get back," he promised, which was completely against his understanding that his continued presence was a danger to both of them, but he couldn't just leave her.

Alice shook herself, her eyes clearing and her breathing slowing down. "Thank you." She pushed up to her knees and settled back on them, sparing him a sideways glance. "Would you mind if I changed into something a little less formal?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Of course not. May I get some more cider while I wait?"

She nodded as she pushed up to her feet and stretched. The resulting series of small pops raised his eyebrows. "I'll be right back," she said and ambled away to another set of stairs that rose over those leading from the front door.

Jasper got to his feet and grabbed their mugs from the carpet with a sigh. He could just hear her light footsteps through the ceiling. Again his mind wandered as he thought about her pulling her shirt over her head and wiggling her hips as she slid out of her pants to stand in nothing but the delicate lace that he imagined she wore beneath her clothing. One hand would snake up her back to unclasp her bra and the thin material would fall away as she lowered her arm to reveal what he imagined would be perfect breasts. His body tightened at the thought of pressing against her from behind, skimming his hands up the front of her body from her hips to cup her breasts in his hands. They would be just as pale as the rest of her and just large enough to fill his palms. With a huff, he shut down the ridiculously persistent line of thought and placed his mug on the counter, keeping hold of hers to fill it from the simmering pot on the stove.

He was just settling back on the floor when she hopped down the stairs dressed in a pale blue long sleeve shirt and dark grey sweatpants. She looked delicious.

She blushed as he looked her over. "I know it's kind of rude, but I hope you'll forgive me. I find myself less willing to look my best all the time." She fluttered over and dropped to a seat right next to him, taking her mug with a small smile as he handed it to her.

He smiled. "There's nothing to forgive. You still look lovely."

Her eyes flashed down to the mug in her hands as his compliment caught her off guard.

Nearly unaware of what he was doing, Jasper leaned forward slowly, invading her space but giving her plenty of time to know what he intended. Her breathing hitched as their eyes met. "Alice," he said, her name barely a whisper on his lips. Her lower lip was trembling. He stilled it with his mouth.

Alice couldn't think. When their lips touched, there were no explosions, no earthquakes, no fireworks bursting into the air above them, just the warm soft pressure of his mouth on hers, but she still couldn't form a thought to save her life. She could only feel the faint brush of his breath on her cheek and the heat of his skin on hers as he kissed her so gently. He filled her world.

Slowly, he increased the pressure and her other senses suddenly returned. She heard the low crackles of the flames as they flared in discovery of pockets of resin in the wood. She smelled the faint scent of smoke and pine and heat on his skin. She tasted the warm sweetness of cider on his lips as they shaped hers in tender and insistent kisses.

Jasper drew her cup from her hand, placing it at a safe distance, and his hand returned to cup her jaw. His thumb moved along her skin in a small caress. He said her name again and she shivered.

Hesitantly, she touched her fingertips to the back of his hand, tracing small circles on his skin as she moved up his arm. A tiny moan escaped her throat as the tip of his tongue slid over the curve of her lower lip. Her fingers tightened on his bicep, the rock hard muscle under his expensive shirt sending a wave of giddiness through her. She enjoyed the juxtaposition of the incredible strength she could feel under his skin and the careful tenderness with which he touched her, as if he feared breaking her. That knowledge making her brave, she let her own tongue extend to touch his and was rewarded with a soft moan.

Her hand slid all the way up his arm and over his shoulder to circle around the back of his neck. His skin was hot and smooth and she twisted her fingers up into his hair, giving a light pull. At that, he growled and pushed her backwards so that she was soon lying on her back, though the pressure from his body barely increased as he held the majority of his weight on one elbow and one knee. The hand on her jaw curled behind her head to act as a cushion and hers slipped from his neck to trace down his spine.

Jasper's entire body twitched as she lightly stroked over the erogenous zone just above the base of his spine and her lips opened wider to let him in. He shifted so that her head was cradled by the hand of the arm that supported him, leaving the other to explore a little.

And explore he did. At first, he stayed in safe areas, simply outlining her body, grazing the curve of her breast as he moved from her shoulder, enjoying the inward curve of her waist and appreciating the flare of her hips as he felt his way down. The soft shivers of her body only encouraged him more. His hand drifted up to her breast and squeezed as he sucked her lower lip between his teeth and bit down gently.

Her reaction was instantaneous. Every muscle in her body twisted into knots and a soft keening cry issued from her throat. She was out from under him in a flash and pressed against the loveseat five feet away.

Every nerve in her body vibrated with tension and she couldn't suppress her trembling as she covered her mouth and tried not to cry. Her heart beat in a panicked rhythm, but she kept her eyes locked on Jasper while she took deep steady breaths to restore her balance.

Seconds, minutes, hours passed before he finally lifted his head to look at her and she found herself paralyzed by what she saw in his eyes. And the next second, it broke her. Tears flooded down her face, washing away the last of her makeup, and she pressed her hand even more tightly across her mouth to muffle her sobs.

"Excuse me," she managed and lurched to her feet, nearly coming back down as her legs almost refused to support her. Unsure that she could make it up the stairs, Alice darted across the room and into the bathroom.

Jasper watched her go, unable to move with the guilt that swept through him. When the door slammed shut, he let his head drop to his arm and cursed for a full five minutes in a low, terrible voice. He should have known better. Instead, he let his body do the thinking for him and he had hurt her. Closing his eyes, he could see her face after he had pulled that monster away from her, her beautiful eyes hazy with fear and pain, her lower lip swollen and bleeding.

He heard her whimpers and his hands curled into fists, using all of his willpower to keep from punching the floor. His stupidity was amazing. He shoved himself to his feet and picked up their mugs, carrying them to the sink and rinsing them out before realizing that he was only postponing the inevitable. His steps were soft as he approached the locked door and his insides were churning. "I-" he said, having to start again when no sound came out. "I'm sorry, Alice." And ignoring the rising feeling of sickness, he grabbed his coat and left.

Alice flinched as she heard the front door slam shut and a fresh wave of anguish crashed over her. She buried her face in her hands and let the tears fall. Minutes, hours later, the flood abated and her hands dropped lifelessly to her lap. She sat trembling on the edge of the bathtub with her thoughts and feelings in shreds. Despair threatened to overwhelm her senses. Thankfully, the rumble of the garage door pushed her thoughts of herself to the back of her mind.

She quickly scrubbed the traces of tears from her face as best she could and darted out into the living room.

Edward was just coming up the stairs with Bella leaning against his side. His face was tight with tension, but hers was smooth and unconcerned. Her forearm was wrapped with a thick layer of gauze. She smiled at Alice and pushed away from her overprotective boyfriend.

"Just a few stitches, nothing serious," she said, before Alice could open her mouth.

Alice forced a smile to her face. "Good. I was a little worried when you passed out. That's the worst part of it."

Edward stepped forward and forced Bella back into the curve of his arm. "Yeah. They all said she was fine."

Alice rolled her eyes. "I told you. When will you learn to trust me?"

He shrugged, his eyes scanning her face. When they narrowed, she turned back to Bella. "How's Dr. Moore? He's on call tonight, right?"

Bella nodded. "He's doing well. His daughter Lisa just had her baby and he's over the moon. He definitely laid it on thick that Carlisle would love to have another grandchild. It doesn't matter how many times I tell them...I'm just not ready yet."

Alice couldn't help but glance at Edward, catching the end of the pained expression he hadn't been able to suppress entirely. She felt a small twinge of sympathy for him, after all who else did he have to talk to about how much he wanted to marry and procreate with the woman of his dreams? "Someday," Alice said neutrally. "Well, I'm glad you're okay. I'm going to head to bed now. See you tomorrow."

She darted upstairs before either of them could ask how the rest of the evening had gone. She leaned against the door, her composure shattering with the soft click of the lock. With a snarl, she tore her clothes off and collapsed onto her bed, trying to soothe herself with the soft comfort of silk sheets. Curling around her body pillow, Alice tried to push away the darkness threatening to pull her down.

A quiet knock at the door startled her out of her efforts and automatically she said, "Come in."

Edward slipped through the doorway, his expression tightening as he saw Alice, pale and shaky on the bed. He sat on the edge of her bed, folding one long leg beneath him. "What happened?"

Alice couldn't look at him, her control still decimated. "Nothing happened, Edward. I was just really worried about Bella. I don't like to see her hurt either."

"Jasper stayed after we left?" His voice was mild, but Alice knew him well enough to call his bluff.

"For a little while." She just wanted to be alone.

Edward's jaw tightened at her reticence. "Alice. If he did something…"

Alice turned to him, her mouth pressed into a thin line. "I really don't need you to protect me, Edward."

"Because you did so well ten days ago?" He looked as though he knew that he had gone too far, but he wasn't about to admit his mistake.

Alice's back snapped straight and her eyes went flat. "I am a big girl, Edward, and I can take care of myself. You need to let go of your control issues and let me live my life. If I need something, I will ask. Good night." She stared at him with her face a blank mask.

"Alice," he said.

"Good night. Give Bella a kiss for me," she cut him off. She knew that he could be extremely stubborn and extremely high handed, but she also knew that he was aware that she could outlast him in any battle of wills.

With a sigh, he stood. He almost said something else, but her glare was enough to kill the words on his tongue. "Good night."

She watched his retreat with impassive features, tossing the covers off violently as the door clicked shut behind him. Stalking into the bathroom, she tore through her medicine cabinet. Finding the bottle she was looking for, Alice filled a glass with water and poured a couple of pills into her hand.

Her reflection stared back, wan and strained. Closing her eyes to hide from herself, she tipped the pills into her mouth and washed them down with a large swallow of water. Keeping her eyes closed, she made her way back to her bed and sighed in relief as the medication smothered her into oblivion.


	9. Fortuitous Meeting

Disclaimer: I claim no right to the Twilight universe. Please Review!

Sorry it took so long to update. Life is a bitch. It will likely be a long time before I manage to update again, but I felt bad holding on to this until I had more chapters under my belt. I hope you like it.

Rain poured from the sky in steady, unending sheets, the fierce wind throwing the drops against the house in such a way as to sound like ocean waves. Alice sat at her desk, one foot propped up on the corner, and stared through the sheet of glass separating her from the elements. Her hair was pulled off her face in myriad messy twists and her favorite drawing pencil appeared as little more than a blur as she twirled it absently.

The house around her was silent but for the muted sounds of the storm. Edward and Bella had taken an impromptu romantic trip for the weekend, leaving Alice behind with considerable trepidation. It had taken every ounce of her acting ability to get them out the door and on the road, away. More than a month had passed, two weeks since she had driven Jasper away, and they still treated her as though she would slice her wrists or hang herself if left alone for a moment.

Alice growled and slammed the pencil down on her desk. She was so tired of the soft quality to their voices when they spoke to her and their careful not-speaking about anything remotely related to clubs, dancing or alcohol, not to mention men. Their sidelong glances and deliberate maneuvering to keep sharp objects out of her sight frustrated her to no end.

She shook her head and glanced at the pile half-finished sketches scattered across the frosted glass tabletop. Another wave of frustration crashed through her, digging deep and testing the formidable temper that lurked beneath her deceptively dainty exterior.

A particularly violent gust of wind slammed into the window with a soft boom. She slid from the chair and onto her stomach on the plush carpet. She rested her chin in her hands and stared outside, fascinated by the elements and unwilling to think about anything else. Maybe Edward and Bella would get stranded somewhere and she wouldn't have to deal with them for weeks. Of course, there had to be a cozy, storm-proof bed and breakfast nearby so that they could pass the time in relative comfort, Alice mused. It wouldn't do to have them miserable the entire time.

As she watched the raindrops meet their inevitable end upon the concrete of the balcony, a pleasant numbness spread through her. She smiled lazily. She loved everything about the rain. She loved the hazy view of the city under the clouds, the steady hum of the rain striking earth, the clear scent of a world washed clean.

Rolling to her back, Alice stretched her arms overhead and pressed her palms to the cold glass. Tipping her head back to stare out the window again, the memory of Jasper's lips on hers rose to the front of her mind and filled her with a terrifying mix of fear and longing that drove the breath from her body. Gasping, she forced herself upright and stumbled into her bathroom.

The bottle was there, sitting on her counter, waiting for her. She tried not to think of what she was doing as she poured two white tablets into her hand for the fifteenth time in as many days. With a groan, she closed them in her fist and leaned against the cool tile, but she could not find the strength she needed to put them back in the bottle. She turned her back on the mirror again and downed the pills.

She moved back into her office, dropping to the floor in front of the window for a second time. Pushing all thoughts from her mind, she focused on the storm, filling her senses with the sights and sounds of the storm. Her eyelids grew heavier as she lay there soothed by the storm and soon she drifted off to sleep feeling more at peace than she had in a long time.

Damn storm, Jasper thought as he shook out his now useless umbrella under the cover of an awning. With a grimace, he tossed it into the trash can next to the door of the diner and went inside. Heat and light swirled around him in a pleasant rush as the door shut behind him, effectively blocking the foul weather. He raked back his hair and greeted the hostess.

She smiled a little too wide, as always, and took him to his usual seat. He thanked her politely and turned his attention to the menu, wondering when she would realize that her flirtatious efforts were wasted. There was only one woman in whom he was interested and it wasn't the hostess.

He didn't bother to watch her disappointed little flounce back to the hostess stand and fought the urge to roll his eyes as she corralled a waitress into another disappointing conversation about how he didn't know what he was missing. He had heard it enough times. She wasn't exactly quiet about it.

A wave of relief calmed him as Missy, the oldest and kindest of the waitresses, strolled up to his table. She was probably in her late fifties and the only one of the women in the joint who seemed to take a genuine interest in him, beyond the condition of his body.

"Heya, honey. How ya doing today?" she greeted him with a smile. Her grey curls were pulled back into a tight bun and she only had a shadow of lipstick still clinging to the outline of her lips.

"I'm good. A little waterlogged, but I'll survive. How about you? Shift almost over?" he said. She had taken a liking to him and always made a point to stop by if she was working. The perks of regular status.

"Yep. Just a few more minutes. I'm putting your order in and then I'm leaving you to the young." She laughed at the lightly panicked expression that crossed his face. "Just kidding. I've got about an hour left. That's plenty of time to take care of you and keep them off your back. What'll it be?"

Jasper grinned and handed her the menu. "I'll have a cup of soup followed by the super burger and a Coke. Coffee in the meantime. Thanks, Missy."

She winked and left to input his order.

He stretched a little and leaned forward on the tabletop, letting his eyes drift closed and his mind wander. If he concentrated hard enough, he could almost remember the way she had smelled the first time they met, that unique combination of citrus and woman that flipped all the right switches in him. Alice. He opened his eyes and traced his hands along the tabletop. This was the booth in which she had been sitting when he had first seen her, her laptop open and her face a mask of quiet anguish muted by the curiosity as their eyes met across the room. He had come every day since the night of their dinner, hoping that she might return and he would get another chance. No luck so far.

He knew that he could make some excuse to stop by the club or even their penthouse, but he hadn't found the courage yet. He wondered if she would even want to see him, if she even remembered him in any favorable light after his stupid behavior the last time they had met. It had only been a two weeks, but it seemed so much longer as he spent each day in the diner hoping for fate to favor him. Edward was considerably unwilling to discuss her with him, so he was out of luck until he either grew the balls necessary to call her up or they met again purely by accident. He was still hoping for "by accident."

Missy swung by to drop off his coffee. Her mouth turned up in a sympathetic smile. "Maybe today?"

He nodded. She was well aware of his sad little mission. "Maybe."

She patted him on the shoulder and bustled off to take care of her other tables.

Jasper sighed. Encircling the steaming cup of coffee with his hands, he turned his gaze out the window to watch the fury of the storm. The streets were almost empty and the few pedestrians all looked completely miserable as they bent nearly in half to minimize striking surface for the horizontal sheets of rain now traveling swiftly through the air.

He took a sip of coffee, appreciating the warmth as it slid down his throat and into his chest. Now that he was out of the storm, he could enjoy it much more. He quite liked the power of nature so evidently on display during a thunderstorm, but he much preferred to appreciate it inside where he couldn't get soaked to the bone or struck by lightning. His friends had always laughed at him for that fear.

A particularly violent gust of wind crashed against the building, rattling the windows and causing the lights to flicker. One waitress shrieked a little and the others laughed even as they eyed the windows warily. Jasper took a longer drink of his beverage. It was going to suck walking home in that.

As he squinted into the storm pondering his course of action, the little bells attached to the door jingled as it opened and the full volume of the weather swept through the establishment, startling everyone. He glanced up out of habit and froze. It was as though his body had gone into one giant, painless muscle spasm as his eyes locked on the thin, petite form of the woman he loved.

She looked absolutely terrible, he noted as he tried to process her presence. She was saturated from head to toe, her only protection from the elements being the thin sweater and jeans she wore. Her hair hung in bedraggled tangles around her face, which was deathly pale and pinched. Dark circles ringed her eyes and her mouth was pressed into a tight bluish line. She leaned against the wall right next to the door for a few seconds as if she could barely stand. Even from where he sat, he could see the relentless tremors shaking her small frame and again his protective instinct snapped him into motion.

Jasper practically leapt from the booth and crossed to her side in seconds, arriving just as she turned around. "Alice."

Alice took a deep breath and straightened from the wall's support. Her body surely hated her for subjecting it to the mercy of the storm for she didn't know how long. An hour, at least, maybe more. The dull roaring in her ears faded a little as she regained some equilibrium, but she barely heard Jasper calling her name. She did however see him directly in front of her, but not in time to halt her movement causing her to lose her balance.

"Whoa, there," he said, steadying her with his hands, stepping close to her so that she could use him to maintain her balance. Her onyx eyes stared at him, the wheels in her head barely turning at half speed.

"J-J-Jasper," she managed, her slow cognition further short circuited by his proximity. The heat of his body blazed through the few inches of space and layers of clothing that separated their skin. It was almost painful to her extremely cold skin, but she was grateful for the warmth. It meant she still had working nerve endings.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other under her chin to tilt her head up so he could look at her face. Anguish roared through him as he saw the weak sputtering of her consciousness behind her eyes. He had no doubt that she was going to lose consciousness soon and he wanted to get her warm and dry before that happened. He gave her another head to toe look, making note of the light purpling of her left cheek and the tears in her sleeves.

"It's been kind of a bad day," she muttered, the trembling taking much of the irritability out of her voice. "You're so warm." Alice leaned forward and rested her cheek against his chest.

Warning bells went off in his head as she leaned more and more heavily against him until he was supporting most of her slight weight. He fished in his back pocket and pulled out a fifty dollar bill. He handed it to Missy, who stood behind him watching them with concern. "Here. I've got to go. I'll see you later."

"Take care of her," Missy warned.

Jasper nodded as he pulled Alice tight against him and out into the storm. "We're just going to walk a little way to my apartment, okay? We'll get you some dry clothes and some hot soup to warm you up. Can you make it?"

She yawned wide and shook her head against his chest. "I don't know if I can walk much farther. It's getting hard to stay awake." She pressed a hand to her forehead. "I took something...I can't remember."

"Okay, then," he said and lifted her into his arms. She let her head rest in the crook of his neck and one small palm pressed against his sternum, her fingers curling lightly into his shirt. He made the trip between the diner and his apartment in less than ten minutes, something of a record, and ignored Eddie's raised eyebrows as he slipped through the lobby of his building, all his attention focused upon the young, cold woman in his arms.

The elevator seemed to take forever, his anxiety only encouraging time to move slower and he cursed as he felt her shivering lessen in intensity. He was no doctor, but that couldn't be good when she was still so cold.

The doors finally chimed open and he rushed in, shifting her slight weight to pound the button for his floor numerous times. Thankfully, no one needed to go up and so the ride was uninterrupted.

He shook her a little as he unlocked his door, relieved when her eyes opened and dismayed when he saw them hazy and unfocused. "Alice? You still with me?"

Alice crinkled her forehead. "I'm so cold."

"Hold on just a few more seconds," Jasper told her as he slammed the door shut and headed for the bathroom.

She barely got a glance of his apartment as he whisked her through it so fast it made her head spin. She could feel herself losing the battle against unconsciousness, a fight not helped by the comfort and safety she felt in his arms or the sleeping pills she had taken just a little while before.

He set her down gently, guiding her to lean against the counter as he grabbed a bunch of towels. He dropped them beside her on the counter and pulled off his shirt and slacks, mindful only of the danger in which she was with the combination of near hypothermia and some unknown medication.

The darkness was momentarily forestalled by the sudden display of a perfect male specimen before Alice's tired eyes. A small coil of heat curled low in her abdomen and brought some color to her face as her eyes took in the smooth expanse of rippling muscle that was his back. Then he turned around and she had to look away or risk looking like a complete fool by drooling all over his floor. The sight made her dizzy and the brief adrenaline rush faded.

"We need to get you out of those clothes, okay, Alice?" he told her, worry for her spiking as her eyes shut. He grabbed the hem of her sweater and pulled it over her head. He made equally quick work of her jeans and tried very hard not to look as he stripped off her sodden undergarments as well. He fumbled a little as he wrapped a towel around her, chafing her arms to restore blood flow. She was like a posable doll, moving only when he moved her but managing to stand on her own.

He helped her from the cold bathroom to the warmer bedroom, keeping her steady with one hand while he pulled the covers down with the other. He let her fall onto the sheets and climbed in next to her, pulling her tightly against him to give her the benefit of his warmth though her skin practically burned with cold. She hissed as he came in contact with her, but she did not move. He threaded his legs through hers and tried to cover as much of her front with his arms as he could, willing the heat of his body to her.

"Alice," he called softly, shaking her gently. "Can you hear me?"

She made some soft sound that he couldn't distinguish, but he wasn't sure if he should keep her awake or let her sleep through the worst of it. As the space around them heated and her shivering calmed, Jasper found himself growing increasingly aware of their proximity and state of undress. He hadn't realized how worried for her he had been until the adrenaline in his system started to fade, leaving him feeling weak and shaky almost as if he had been sick for a few days. He gathered her closer to him, relief flooding through him as he felt the minute expansions of her ribs against his forearms.

Cautiously, he removed his hand from around her waist and placed it on her shoulder, sliding his palm up and down her arm, deeply appreciating the softness of her skin. She seemed so much more than any other woman with whom he had made an acquaintance. Even Maria. The thought catching him by surprise, he rolled onto his back, startled when she moved with him.

She draped one cool-skinned arm over his chest and settled her cheek on his shoulder. His eyes widened as they flicked to her face, only to narrow in disappointment at the soft, slack quality of her features. She was asleep. Pulling the covers up to keep her wrapped warmly, he quashed the ridiculous feeling and took the moment to study her without the watchful eyes of close family members or the monitoring of hospital equipment. Without the choking fear that he hadn't reached her in time.

She looked peaceful. Almost without his consent, his fingertips drifted up to trace the curve of her cheekbones and the line of her jaw. Her nose wrinkled slightly and he let his hand drop to cover hers on his chest. He hoped she couldn't sense his elevated heart rate in her sleep.


End file.
